


'Till Kingdom Come

by GoldenS0422



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Family Feels, Family Reunions, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Modern Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:54:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 22,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26486749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldenS0422/pseuds/GoldenS0422
Summary: 15 years have passed ever since the attack on the palace, and the world seems to have calmed down for King Anakin and Queen Padmé, who live with the dark memories of losing their first children, Luke and Leia, but after the Chancellor of Exegol pays them a visit, everything is about to change.
Relationships: Leia Organa/Evaan Verlaine, Mara Jade/Luke Skywalker, Padmé Amidala & Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala & Leia Organa & Anakin Skywalker & Luke Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 13
Kudos: 24





	1. Prologue

_LONG LIVE THE KING!_

It didn’t take long before Anakin, King of the Coruscant Realms, and his consort, Queen Padmé of the Coruscant Realms, were now being escorted back to their carriage for the agonizingly long procession on the way back to the Palace of the Realms with crowns on both of their heads, one passed onto the descendant and the other made for the woman who would stand alongside him until the very end of time. Both of them knew that this procession wouldn’t be enjoyable, but really, neither of them thought it would be that bad and that painfully boring, but alas, here they were.

“I guess we should just occasionally wave and look outside, right?”, she asked. “Isn’t that how it would usually work?”

“Yes,” Anakin nodded. “Although I really want a drink right now because I am a bit thirsty.”

She chuckled, “If I was still a bartender, I would’ve given you one, but I am, unfortunately, not one anymore.”

“You really are not one anymore, but I do sometimes miss you as one.”

“If I was still a bartender, I would not be your wife, could you handle that?”

He shook his head with a small chuckle, “Oh, I can’t. I could never handle something like that. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be married to someone that’s not you. It’s either you or it’s nothing if you ask me.”

“Well, then I suppose you’ll have to handle me being your Queen Consort rather than your hot bartender.”

“I think I can handle that,” he chuckled. “It’s still you after all. You’ll always be that hot bartender I ran into in the bar I ran off to in a bad day.”

“And, you’ll always be the worst flirt I have ever met in my life.”

He flirted in the most un-kingly manner, “Don’t you like that I’m a bad flirt?”

She shrugged, “I guess I do.”

“Yes, that is quite obvious, otherwise you wouldn’t have been happy to see me the next time I ran off to,” he pointed out.

____________________

Anakin and Padmé were sat in bed together, too much energy still left in them to fall asleep yet too lazy to do anything else. It was a quiet day for them as the day passed by like any other day in the palace, and they often spent most of the day together like they always would when neither Anakin nor Padmé really had any sort of thing to do in that day like representing the realms in any sort of way.

“You know, Ani, I forgot to tell you something.”

“What is it?”, he asked. “I hope it’s something interesting to…light up the quiet day.”

She chuckled lightly before nodding, “It is.”

“Then, tell me, angel.”

“So, I learned something big two days ago,” she said. “It has something to do with…parenthood.”

“Wait, wait,” Anakin quickly understood what she was talking about. “Padmé, y-you’re…pregnant?”

She smiled before nodding again, “Mhm.”

“Oh, Padmé!”, Anakin threw his arms around her before almost burying her in his embrace as he peppered her with kisses, some long whereas others were short, but all of them were full of passion as he was constantly saying words of adoration such as ‘I love you’ after each one along with an obvious grin on his face. She couldn’t help but accept every single bit of it.

____________________

**_2 years later…_ **

Anakin had his arms over Padmé as the two of them tried to sink into sleep, but there was something bothering him that he soon realized Padmé was being bothered by as well. It sounded like…things flying by.

“Do you hear that?”, he asked.

Padmé stirred awake, “Hear what?”

“Just wait and listen.”

Padmé broke the silence roughly ten seconds later, “Yeah, I can hear that.”

“What does that sound like to you?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know, really.”

“Do you think it’s-“, he was cut off by a scream not so far away from them.

“Gunshots,” she finished.

As if on cue, a man wearing a business suit and shades burst into the room, clearly one of their security, “Your Majesties, come with me, please, we need to get you to the saferoom, the palace is under attack!”. It was Rex, the Commander of both Anakin and Padmé’s guard squadron, who was calling for the two of them to come with him, so they did just that, following Rex out of the room.

“Wait!”, Padmé stopped abruptly, wanting to say something.

Rex quickly understood what Padmé was going to say and reassured her, “The children will be fine, ma’am.”

Padmé reluctantly continued on with Rex and Anakin before more of their security agents followed them down to the saferoom.

____________________

Anakin and Padmé were the first to enter their children’s room with tears already building up behind their eyes, ready to release and flow down all the way. They did not get any sort of confirmation on the lives of their children, and Rex himself was scared knowing he would be the first to be blamed by Anakin as for one, he was following them to their room which would mean he would be the first agent they knew they could talk to, and for another, he was the one who reassured the two of them that their children would be taken care of as well.

They slowly inched towards their cribs and could see the bodies of their babies in there, but they still remained extremely anxious as they would’ve thought the children would’ve cried by now. They tensed up even more for every step that they took.

Both of them looked down on their cribs at the same time, and all they could see was red.

Literally.

____________________

There was a knock on the door of Anakin and Padmé the following day, still mourning the death of their children. Anakin opened the door to see Rex. He was still nowhere near being happy to see him ever since he had pinned the death of his babies on him, and Rex knew it. However, he was too tired from all the crying to really try and wave him off, and besides, it’s not often that Rex enters their room or knocks on the door to get their attention, so it’s very likely that he has something important to tell the two of them.

“What is it now, Rex?”, Anakin gave him a stare that showed both exhaustion and annoyance.

“Your Majesty, we have news regarding-“

“Luke and Leia?”

He nodded promptly, “Yes, sir.”

“Ugh, go ahead.”

Rex was about to speak before Padmé came up to stand next to her husband, seeming equally exhausted, heartbroken, and annoyed as he was. He stopped speaking until Padmé prompted him to tell them what he has to say, “Go ahead, tell us.”

“Well, Your Majesty, sir, we’ve just found out that the bodies of your children are…not real.”

Anakin furrowed his eyebrows, “What? What do you mean ‘they’re not real’?”

“They aren’t…real, sir. In fact, they’re more of dolls. They were…extremely accurate replicas of them, and we soon found out that they were made in such a way that…plastic dolls would along with numerous adjustments to convince us that they were corpses with blood and all along with a few stray hair strands here and there. We believe that your children may still be alive.”

Rex half-expected Anakin to smile, but he could tell the sovereign was being cautiously optimistic the next time he spoke up, “Do you…have any leads? Also, have you checked the hair yet?”

He shook his head, “No leads, but we have suspects, namely those raiders that we caught but didn’t kill. Also, we’ll run through the hair tomorrow. For today, we’re just trying to get everything up and running for a full-on investigation.”

“That’s all? What about the security footage?”, Padmé asked. “Shouldn’t you be able to check on that at the very least?”

“We’re looking through it right now, but a lot of the time, the cameras are shot down. We’re looking through the footage before it got shot, trying to see if we can find anybody worth looking for due to their likely involvement in the raid. We’re looking through every split-second, ma’am, I can assure you that.”

“The last time you assured me something, we all know what happened,” Padmé suppressed her anger, but it was easily noticed by Rex. “Don’t we?”

Rex sighed and looked down in shame, “Yes, I guess we all do, ma’am.”

“Can we check in on the progress sometime soon?”, Anakin asked.

Rex jerked his head up to meet the king’s eyes before answering promptly, “Yes, if that’s what you wish, sir. In fact, I could bring the both of you there right now.”

Anakin shook his head, “No, I’m not interested. I still need some time off.”

Rex nodded before looking at Padmé, “Ma’am?”

She shook her head as well, “I’m not interested either. We still need time to…reflect on things for now, so, no, we’re not gonna check on the progress, at least not today at least.”

“Yes, ma’am. I…guess I’ll leave you two now here. I’ll be available if any of you need anything,” Rex turned around and walked away as he could hear Anakin shut the door now behind him. He could already begin to feel Anakin and Padmé going back to their bed to continue mourning the loss of their children, the loss of Prince Luke and Princess Leia, their children and heirs, and that was all because he assured them of something that wasn’t true.


	2. Chapter 2

**_15 years after the attack on the palace…_ **

Luke Lars stretched his arms before kicking himself up and sitting down on the side of his rickety bed. He then drank up the water in the glass that he would almost always have placed on the nightstand by his side throughout the night. He used to do that because he was sick, but now, it’s become a habit that he can’t get off of, but it’s not like he’s really bothered to stop the habit as it is a bit of a healthy habit with all things considered. He got up and sauntered to the window to look outside to see the sun rising in this private village in Cavite, Philippines.

Life was…extremely awkward for him. First off, he was adopted which already made him feel extremely odd upon discovering that. His parents, while not saying it like an insult, often pointed out that he looked nowhere near the likes of a native Filipino, so he came up with the idea that he may or may not be a foreigner. Everyone in school noticed it, and he gradually attracted all the girls and became the high school hottie that was in just about every school in every country. For whatever reason, he was _far_ better at speaking English than Filipino, which is supposed to be his first language. Plus, he was more of an English-speaking type of boy.

He turned around to check the time and saw that it was relatively early in the morning to be preparing for school, namely the time being 5:30 AM. Luke would often spend roughly 30 to 40 minutes preparing for school along with an additional 15 to 20 minutes for the time it takes for him to get from home to school, and school started at 7:15 AM for him, meaning that it would’ve been best if he probably began preparing somewhere between 5:50 to 6:00 if he still wants to get to classes earlier than most others, but he could get away with preparing by 6:20 AM if he desperately needed the sleep, which wasn’t very often as Luke wasn’t exactly someone who slept too long.

He sat back down on the bed and took his fully-charged phone and saw numerous notifications popping up on the lock screen of his Samsung Galaxy Note 8, a combination of both Facebook and YouTube notifications. Luke was always someone into music, both pop music and OPM (Original Philippine Music) were his type, so he was thrilled to get the notification of a new music video being released by one of his favorite singers. Considering it was early and his parents, Owen and Beru Lars, would definitely not notice him, he decided to watch the music video, albeit with a far lower volume as he wanted to avoid waking up his supposedly asleep parents.

After listening to it, he went downstairs and heard the sizzling, clearly indicating one of his parents, likely Beru as she was always the cook, were awake, so he was lucky to not get caught by them.

“Good morning, ma,” Luke greeted before yawning.

“Morning,” Beru replied without looking at him, still focused on what she was cooking. “You’re up early today, ah.”

Luke checked the time, realizing that he was indeed early, and nodded, “Mhm.”

Today was a school day for Luke, specifically a Wednesday. This week was the last week until the term examinations that would end the school year, and he would be a Grade 10 student by the time the next school year. Since this week would be preceding the exam week, most of the lectures in class would simply be reviews of the coverage of their term examinations to help the students prepare. There would often be activities as well that would help them in their reviewing, and this would also be the best time for students to fulfill their missed requirements.

Luke was always one of the better students in class. He was an honor student last year and seems to be doing even better this year, albeit not necessarily enough for him to be classified as a high honor student unlike some of the other, more academically successful people that he knows like Mara Jade. He was doing much better now with her help, and he could not be any more thankful. 

His mother eventually finished cooking breakfast, and Luke ate rather hastily. It wasn’t normal for him to eat quickly even though there really was no reason for him to do so, but Beru didn’t seem to do anything to stop him as she either doesn’t care or she doesn’t realize that Luke really eats that quickly, probably the latter. He finished eating quite quickly, and eventually, he made his way upstairs to begin taking a bath. Just as he was getting his clothes, his father, Owen, left the room and went downstairs himself, oblivious to his son’s presence in the nearby room.

____________________

It was yet another school day for Leia Organa. She groaned before rolling over to check the time and hitting the digital alarm clock to stop it from ringing. After groaning a second time, she took her phone and realized it was 6:30 AM in the morning as she had somehow forgotten what the digital alarm clock said, but it was right on time for her to begin preparing for her classes which starts at 8:00 AM. She stretched her arms and sat down on the side of the bed for a few moments to check her phone, seeing numerous notifications piling up her lock screen from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. When she was done, she got up and looked out of the sliding window to see the sun right up at the top of the sky, shining down on her luxurious home in Vermont, USA.

Unlike Luke’s life, Leia’s was interesting but not necessarily awkward. She was adopted by now-Senator Bail Organa and his wife, Breha Organa. It was very clear that her parents were priming her to become a politician one day, and she was more than welcome to do that, expressing interest in it. Leia was always quite organized in public, and many people in her high school consider her to be quite a preppy student, not that she took that as an insult or something. She didn’t seem to blend in with everyone else in terms of looks, and a few people said she didn’t look like an American, but not really a lot.

She made her way out of the room knowing it was time to begin preparing for school, and her mother, Breha, was downstairs, cooking.

“Good morning, dear,” Breha turned around to greet her, smiling.

“Good morning, mom,” she replied, smiling back at her. “I’m not late, am I?”

She shook her head, “No, not at all. Not necessarily early, but you’re not late at all.”

“Alright,” Leia nodded before sitting down on the couch nearby, and that was when she heard a pair of feet making its way down the stairs. It was her father, Bail.

“Good morning, you two,” he greeted.

Leia smiled up at him, “Morning, dad.”

“Morning, Leia.”

“Morning, Bail,” Breha greeted.

“Morning, dear.”

Bail then sat down at the couch in front of Leia while she was busy using her phone.

“Do you have any exams today?”, he asked.

Leia shook her head, “No.”

“Well, when’s your next one?”

“In two days if I remember,” she answered. “I’ll begin studying tomorrow.”

“Alright, then.”

“It shouldn’t be that hard. I aced the last test,” she pointed out.

“Still, you should study hard.”

“I always do, dad,” she said dryly. “I could probably study with one day less and still do well.”

“Even still.”

She sighed, “Yeah, yes, I’ll study, dad.”

“Good.”

“Are you staying late in work today?”, Breha asked.

“Nope, regular day, hopefully,” Bail shook his head. “Hopefully.”

“It’s been like that the last few days,” Breha pointed out. “So, I’m sure today should be the same as well.”

“I have a few sessions today, but it’s nothing new.”

Leia opened her phone again as she heard a message notification come up.

**< From EVAAN VERLAINE: Hey Leia>**

**< To EVAAN VERLAINE: Hey Ev>**

**< From EVAAN VERLAINE: Are u coming early today?>**

**< To EVAAN VERLAINE: Nope>**

**< From EVAAN VERLAINE: Ah that’s a shame I wanted to show you something>**

**< To EVAAN VERLAINE: I mean you know you could always show whatever that is you have later>**

**< From EVAAN VERLAINE: ahh you’re right my bad>**

**< To EVAAN VERLAINE: XD>**

**< From EVAAN VERLAINE: hehe anyway…>**

**< To EVAAN VERLAINE: what?>**

**< From EVAAN VERLAINE: are you gonna be online today?>**

**< To EVAAN VERLAINE: in a game?>**

**< From EVAAN VERLAINE: yeah>**

**< To EVAAN VERLAINE: er no, and I can’t tomorrow because I have to begin studying otherwise dad will kill me>**

**< From EVAAN VERLAINE: oh alright then>**

**< To EVAAN VERLAINE: maybe on the weekend or Friday?>**

**< From EVAAN VERLAINE: hmm I’ll see about that, maybe just tell you about it tomorrow>**

**< To EVAAN VERLAINE: k I gtg so bye>**

**< From EVAAN VERLAINE: bye>**

Leia closed her phone before she went to eat breakfast.


	3. Chapter 3

The investigation regarding what happened to Prince Luke and Princess Leia died down years ago, yet Anakin and Padmé were still forever scarred by the death of their children. Padmé gave birth to another child two years after the attack on the palace, and their child was a female that they named “Asher” which meant _fortunate, blessed,_ and _happy one_. Right now, the girl is 13 years old and healthy, considered the heir presumptive to the throne if the time ever came that they found Luke and Leia, and she knew all too well of what had happened to her older brother and older sister, occasionally mourning their deaths as well.

Asher ended up luckier than her older siblings, having not even experiencing a single attempt on her life, but her parents had numerous ones throughout the last 15 years yet they survived each and every one. She grew attached to her older brother and sister even though she never met them in her life, but it wasn’t like Padmé and Anakin tried to question her being attached to them as they very much still were as well.

Asher knocked on the door before entering her parents’ room. They were leaning on the headboard, sat down together on the bed, “Mother? Father?”

“Yes, dear?”, Padmé replied. “Do you need anything?”

“C-could I talk to you and father about…something?”, she stammered as she asked.

Padmé nodded, “Of course, you can talk to us about anything.”

Asher sighed slightly before walking to the bed and sitting in front of her parents, “Okay.”

“So, what do you want to talk about?”, her father asked.

“I…need advice for something.”

“That is?”

“Advice on moving on,” she answered.

“What do you mean?”

“How did you and mother move on from the…deaths of Luke and Leia?”

Padmé shook her head and answered, “We never moved on, dear. We just learned to live with it. We still think of them every day, but we’ve come to a point where we can do our duties despite still looking back on them.”

“Yes,” Anakin answered this time. “We’re still…scarred by their deaths, and we always will be.”

“So, a-are you not h-happy with me?”, Asher asked before internally berating herself for making it sound like it did.

“Oh, Asher, of course we’re happy with you,” Padmé frowned lightly before she cupped her daughter’s face before quickly pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Me and your father are forever thankful for you. We even pray every night that we can wake up the next day with you still feeling okay. It’s just that…we still miss your brother and sister.”

“Sorry, mother, father, that sounded stupid of me,” Asher apologized.

“It’s okay, dear.”

“You’re a blessing, Asher, remember that,” Anakin told her. “We’ll always be thankful for you.”

“I’m sorry, that was stupid.”

“It’s alright.”

Many things have changed in the palace ever since the attack. For example, Rex was no longer the commander of both Anakin and Padmé’s security units, rather simply being in command of only Anakin’s security unit. Padmé’s security unit was commanded by a man named Gregar Typho who used to be second-in-command for Rex when he commanded both units back in the day. Padmé was the one who recommended him for it, and her recommendations were taken in as he was promoted.

Like Padmé said, she and her husband never moved on from the deaths of Luke and Leia. Throughout the first week after their deaths, they struggled so much to work as their thoughts would always wander off to their dead children. The guilt that they felt gradually got lighter, but it never fully disappeared. Luckily for them, it went low enough to the point that they could perform their duties despite still occasionally looking back at Luke and Leia and imagining what could have been for the two of them if they were still alive to this day, but they were dead now, and they had no choice but to face it.

Of course, Asher had security of her own, and her security unit was commanded by a woman named Ahsoka Tano. Ahsoka was a former investigator, and thus on rare occasions, she was chosen to take part in investigating cases, but now, she would often only take part in cases regarding Princess Asher as she was the head of her security unit. Asher always thought of Ahsoka as a bit of an older sister even though Ahsoka was only a few years younger than Anakin and Padmé. She and Ahsoka were good friends, and Ahsoka often helped her with many different things often.

____________________

It was the following day when King Anakin and the rest of the royal family would be visited by the head of the government of the sovereign state known as Exegol, Chancellor Sheev Palpatine. They have been arguing over a small island in the sea in between the two nations for an extremely long time, and the two world leaders wished to put the arguing to an end and decide who takes the island via this visitation. This was their chance to end all the fighting over one small island.

Anakin and Padmé were right outside of the palace where they would meet their guest. He was making his way to the palace in a chauffeured vehicle that they ordered specifically for him. Anakin and Padmé, along with Asher, were standing outside alone as it was a quiet day in the palace as the vehicle and its escorts got closer and closer to the main entrance. Not long after, the vehicle stopped in front, and getting out of it was a security guard who opened the door for Palpatine. He strode to the three of them with a solemn smile on his face.

“Your Majesties,” he greeted with a small neck bow before Padmé offered her hand to shake which he shook, then Anakin did as well.

“Chancellor Palpatine, it’s great to finally see you,” Anakin said solemnly.

“And the both of you, too,” he replied before a brunette of his age (which made her a middle-aged woman, clearly) came up alongside him, and he introduced her promptly. “This is my wife, Lara Palpatine.”

“First Lady, I’d presume?”, Anakin raised an eyebrow after shaking her hand.

“Mhm,” she answered.

The Palpatines then introduced themselves to Asher, and after they did, Anakin prompted them to go inside, “Well, now that we’re all acquainted, I think it might be best that we get inside now.”

“Indeed, sir,” Sheev agreed before they followed the royal family inside.

Anakin and Padmé were leading the small group through the palace, and they gave their guests a small tour of the castle, leading them to places that most people would want to see whilst leaving out a few knowing that a tour of the entirety of the place would take way too much of their time. Sure, the discussions would begin tomorrow, but they would be having dinner with the Chancellor and his First Lady, and neither of them wanted to take away some of that time just to give them a tour of the palace. Asher remained quiet throughout most of the tour, not really knowing what she could say.

Padmé leaned down to her daughter, “Dear, you’ve been quite quiet today. Is there something wrong?”.

She shook her head, “No, mother, I’m fine, trust me. I just…don’t really know what to talk about.”

“Okay,” Padmé nodded. “But, just tell me if something’s bothering you.”

“Yes, mother.”

“This is…a bit of an artifact, really,” Anakin told Sheev and Lara as he referred to a ceramic vase in blue and white that Sheev asked about. “It’s been there ever since I was born, and my mother never really told me anything about it. I don’t know where it came from, but my mother did say it came from a long time ago. It’s quite lovely though, and it doesn’t seem like it’s gotten any worse as the years passed.”

“Indeed, I’m sure these were all over the stores back then,” Sheev replied. “It is quite…exquisite, to say the least.”

“Mhm, how about we head for a place to sit?”

____________________

It was time for dinner, and Anakin, Padmé, and Asher (not as much as her parents, but still insistent, nonetheless) were insistent on preparing the table for their guests, so they did. Sheev and Lara were sat outside the dining room on the couch in what very much seemed like a waiting room of some kind.

Lara looked to the side to see two women clad in light orange with a reddish cloth wrapped around their waistline, seeming like assistants or handmaidens to the King and Queen of the Coruscant Realms, and shortly after, she began spoking to her husband in a quiet voice that she knew could still barely be heard by the supposed handmaidens standing on either side of the room, “Should we tell them?”

“About what?”, he raised an eyebrow.

“That Prince Luke is somewhere in Cavite, Philippines and Princess Leia is somewhere in Vermont, United States?”

“What!?”, he hissed. “No, do not speak of this! Don’t be stupid, dear. The last thing we want them to know is that they’re alive.” Sheev looked up and for a split-second, he could’ve sworn the woman clad in orange was staring at the two of them, but perhaps that was just a small suspicion. “You nearly spilled it.”

“I’m sorry, darling,” she apologized with a sense of sulkiness. “I didn’t mean to.”

Sheev sighed before speaking in a whisper, “That was very close, you know that, right?”

“Yes, I’m sorry,” she replied.

“You better. This could’ve ended in a catastrophe.”

Lara seemed like she wanted to reply, but she was interrupted by the doors to the dining room opening to reveal Padmé with a welcoming smile on her face as she announced, “Well, dinner’s ready. Please do join us.”

Sheev and Lara smiled back diplomatically before coming inside to follow the Queen Consort into the dining room. There were shiny ceramic plates placed in front of the chairs along with a spoon, fork, knife, glass, and napkin right next to it. Anakin was also placing the food in the middle of the table now as they seemed to be finishing up the table. Anakin invited them to take a seat, “Please, take a seat. We’ll handle the rest, no worries.”

Sheev and Lara nodded before they took a seat at the chairs that Anakin gestured to and waited patiently. Lara could already feel the displeased look that her husband was giving her, but she didn’t really bother that much.

Dinner went swimmingly. Anakin decided to discuss a good amount of the negotiations regarding the small island they were fighting over to make everything that would happen tomorrow a bit more smooth-sailing. When it was over, Sheev and Lara were directed to guest rooms that they would stay at for the evening.

Tomorrow was another day.


	4. Chapter 4

Anakin was busy undoing and fixing Padmé’s hair in the evening as she always would ask from him by the end of the day. Both of them enjoyed doing this as it also gave them the chance to sneak in a small chat while they could see each other’s reflection in the mirror. They just finished having a talk with Asher after she asked for some more advice for other things, and now, they had the rest of the day to themselves. Anakin would sometimes do his wife’s hair if her hairstyle would be simple enough, but most of the time, she either does it herself or asks help from one of her handmaidens.

Speaking of handmaidens, one of them came knocking on the door. Anakin finished undoing and fixing Padmé’s hair a few seconds later, and he was the one to answer the door.

“Your Majesty,” Sabé, one of the handmaidens, spoke. “I bring very urgent news.”

“What is it?”, Anakin asked as Padmé came up next to him.

“Prior to the dinner that you hosted, President Palpatine and the First Lady were talking to each other about Prince Luke and Princess Leia.”

Anakin sighed, “Please don’t give us false hope.”

She shook her head, “This isn’t. I still remember the exact words.”

Padmé nodded before responding, “Well, tell us then.”

Sabé repeated the entire conversation effortlessly. The handmaidens were trained in a bit of a similar way to bodyguards, but if they were doing anything but assisting the king or his wife, which was their main job, they would often act as spies who would eavesdrop in on conversations, especially those talking about the monarch and their consort, and were one of the few people outside of his family and security unit that King Anakin and Queen Padmé could truly trust. There was no way Anakin wouldn’t at least consider taking in her report as he trusted her far too much at this point.

“Hmm,” Anakin looked down, busy as he was drowning in thought. “If what you say is true, then it’ll be best that we begin working on something.”

“I think we should start tomorrow,” Padmé suggested. “Today, we’ll…lay back a bit.”

“Very well,” Sabé replied.

“You may go now, Sabé.”

Sabé nodded, “Yes, sir.”

Sabé then turned around and walked away, and Anakin shut the door that she left open.

____________________

Anakin and Padmé sat next to each other on the bed when they began talking about what one of their handmaidens told them.

“So, do you believe Sabé?”, Padmé asked. “I really wish she isn’t lying.”

“The handmaidens never lie,” Anakin pointed out. “If this isn’t true, then she either misheard or it was Lara who lied. I trust the handmaidens, and I know you do as well.”

“I know, I know,” his wife sighed. “It’s just that…whenever someone says they’re still alive, it’s very hard to believe. I want to believe it, but it’s just so difficult.”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out.”

Padmé slowly nodded, “So, should we begin working tomorrow?”

“Mhm,” he answered. “Maybe I should get Ahsoka on the case. She hasn’t investigated one in a while, and if there’s an investigator I trust, it’s her.”

“Are you sure? What about Asher? We all know how much Asher cares about Ahsoka.”

“We have to talk to her about this tomorrow,” he murmured. “We’ll see if she’ll let her go on. I don’t want to force anything out of her.”

“Well, that’s good.”

“I hope they’re alive.”

“I’m worried though,” she frowned. “If we do see them again, how would they react to us?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know. They would definitely be shocked, not only because they’ll find out they were adopted children if the parents didn’t tell them, but also because their true parents are royals, making them royals as well.”

“I just hope they won’t be mad at us in whatever way.”

“Me, too.”

“Media will be all over us when and if this happens. That’ll be a bad thing.”

“You’re right,” she agreed. “It will be a bad thing.”

“But, I’d deal with all that media if it means I get to be with a complete family again,” he kissed the top of her head.

“Me, too, Ani. Me, too.”

“I want them back,” he sighed. “I just want them back.”

“Me as well.”

____________________

It was breakfast the following day, and Ahsoka was invited to their breakfast as well to talk about what the king and queen have in mind. Asher was surprised when Ahsoka came to the table, but it was indeed a welcome one to have one of her good friends joining in on the meal.

“Your Majesty, you invited me here to talk about something,” Ahsoka pointed out at some point in the meal, breaking the silence as they ate. “What am I needed for?”

“Well, Ahsoka, we’ve gotten some news yesterday from one of our handmaidens about Luke and Leia. Namely, we know of the countries they’re in along with where they are in the country. We were wondering if you wanted to be in charge of finding them or at least be part of it. It’ll be difficult, but it’s a start at the very least. We heard it from Sheev and Lara Palpatine, or at least, it was Sabé who heard it,” Anakin explained.

“Well, where are they anyway?”, she asked.

“Luke is in this _Cavite_ province in the Philippines. Leia is in Vermont in the US,” Anakin answered. “Like I said, it’ll be difficult as it’s not that specific, but it’s a start.”

Ahsoka slowly nodded before looking at Asher, “I’ll accept it if Asher doesn’t mind.”

Asher nodded almost immediately, “If I can find my brother and sister through this, then I don’t mind it at all.”

“Well, it’s settled then, but…I don’t exactly know who’ll be in charge of Asher’s security while Ahsoka’s gone.”

“It’ll be my right-hand man, Ezra Bridger,” Ahsoka answered. “Trust me, he’ll do fine.”

“Ezra?”, Asher mused. “Oh, yeah, right, that Ezra. Okay, I remember now.”

“I’ll talk to the Intelligence Agency about this,” Anakin announced. “I think they’ll get you a partner. Do you want to be in the field or behind the lines?”, he asked Ahsoka.

“I want to be in the field, sir,” she answered. “It’s my best.”

He nodded, “Well, I can’t really argue with that.”

“Me neither,” Padmé agreed. “You’re one of the best in the lot, Ahsoka.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” she let out a polite smile. “I do quite miss the field myself.”

“I’ll have the Palpatines taken later for questioning, but before that, I want him to sign the deal that I’ve put together regarding the islands we’re fighting over to make it official, and if those all go according to plan, we may find ourselves in a win-win situation.”

Padmé smirked, “I like that thinking.”

“You like everything about me, angel,” he replied with a smirk of his own.

Padmé sighed and rolled her eyes, “Well, I guess you’re right about that.”

The smirk drained from his face, “I still wonder how we’ll find the children in Cavite and Arizona, however. It’ll be quite difficult.”

“As a certified member of the Coruscant Central Intelligence Agency, I can find a way,” Ahsoka replied rather boastfully.

“Mhm,” Anakin replied rather dismissively. “I trust you can do this, Ahsoka.”

“I can,” Ahsoka nodded. “I’ll work my hardest for this one.”

“You always do,” Anakin said adoringly.

She smiled, “Well, I suppose I really do always work my hardest.”

“I guess we have to thank Lara for revealing it. Sabé said Lara asked Sheev regarding if he wanted to reveal it to us or not. Sheev got mad that it nearly got spilled, but he thought it didn’t. Regardless, their little conversation was loud enough for it to be heard by Sabé which was more than enough.”

“I wonder if Lara did that intentionally,” Padmé mused. “Surely, it would’ve been common sense for them to not even pull up the idea, let alone speak it that loudly to the point that Sabé could hear it.”

“I wonder if Lara even likes Sheev. Sheev is behind all this, and she definitely knows of it. It might be an act of revenge. After all, I haven’t seen Lara acting all that comfortable around her husband most of the time,” Anakin said. “Maybe their relationship has been in trouble for a while, and she just did that to get back at him.”

“Either that, or she really cares for Luke and Leia,” Asher added. “Either way, father, we have a big chance here to get them back, and you know how much I miss the two of them.”

“You never even met them,” Ahsoka pointed out.

“Still,” Asher countered. “Things would be so much better with them, definitely.”

“Yeah, I feel the same, Ash. I miss them so much, too,” Anakin sighed. “Let’s hope we can pull through with this one.”

“You can count on me, sir,” Ahsoka said.


	5. Chapter 5

“Luke!”, Mara called, running to his boyfriend. “Lu!”

Luke turned around and widened his eyes, “Oh, Mara.”

“Where are you going?”, she asked.

He raised an eyebrow, “Uh, to the restroom?”

She chuckled, “Yeah, yeah, I was just trying to catch up.”

Luke kissed her on the cheek, causing it to redden, “Well, now that you’re here, I guess you could come with me.”

“Hehe, right,” she smiled.

Mara Jade became Luke’s girlfriend sometime two years ago. She was roughly six months older than Luke, but that often went unnoticed. Like Luke, Mara was English-speaking and often used English as their main language, or as Filipinos called it, she was an _inglisero_. Mara was half-blooded with her father being Filipino and her mother being Coruscanti, and she told Luke that her parents were thinking about transferring her to another school all the way in Coruscant in National Coruscant High School, which was famous for being the most exclusive school in all of Coruscant, only for the smartest and richest. This worried Luke very much knowing she might leave, and they would never stand a chance at one another. She said she would try her best to convince them to let her stay, and he hoped she would pull through.

Mara was always considered one of the top students in the campus, becoming one of the only few in her grade level to be a high honor student rather than an honor student like most other recognized students. She was also quite the athlete, being a member of the badminton varsity.

“So, are you excited for the term exams or nervous?”, Mara asked.

“Both, and I’m also scared knowing you might leave,” Luke sighed.

“Lu, if ever I end up moving, I’m so sorry,” she said as she placed a hand on his shoulder as they walked. “I would be really sorry.”

“If it does happen, it won’t be your fault, Mara,” Luke reminded her. “Just remember that.”

“No,” she shook her head. “It will.”

“It won’t,” he said with a sense of finality.

She sighed, “Still, I’ll feel guilt knowing I could’ve done so much to make sure I don’t leave, but I didn’t try hard enough and failed.”

“No matter what happens, I’ll always love you, remember that,” he pressed a second kiss to her cheek. “Okay?”

“Okay,” she nodded. “And, I’ll always love you, too.”

“Even if it means we’ll be stuck as internet _friends_ ,” Luke added. “I don’t know if I’ll ever find someone better than you, and that’s coming from a 16-going-on-17 year old.”

“Well, I trust your instincts,” she chuckled.

He shrugged, “You don’t have much of a choice.”

“I really don’t.”

____________________

It was the weekend for Luke when he woke up that day, and after he had a chat with Mara over the phone, he opened up his Discord app that he was oh-so-addicted to. His username there, and in most online games, was _DoubleLLuke._ He was in numerous amounts of servers, but most of them were muted, saving him from dealing with the issues of having many pings throughout the evening as most of the people he would play with were somewhere halfway around the world. When it loaded in, he saw that he had a Direct Message from his best internet friend who had the username _LiaStarz_.

**< From LiaStarz: hey>**

**< To LiaStarz: Hey>**

**< From LiaStarz: how are u?>**

**< To LiaStarz: doing fine>**

**< From LiaStarz: are ya up for a game?>**

**< To LiaStarz: what game?>**

**< From LiaStarz: err, roblox?>**

**< To LiaStarz: as long as it’s not the ultra kiddy games then I’ll play>**

**< From LiaStarz: phantom forces isn’t kiddy>**

**< To LiaStarz: right, yes, that game>**

**< From LiaStarz: no wait how about we just play COD? On Steam>**

**< To LiaStarz: yeah that also sounds like a good idea>**

**< From LiaStarz: k cool, so when?>**

**< To LiaStarz: errr, how about in an hour>**

**< From LiaStarz: alright, that’s cool>**

**< To LiaStarz: yeah cool>**

**< From LiaStarz: yeah, cool>**

**< To LiaStarz: cool>**

**< From LiaStarz: cool>**

**< To LiaStarz: okay, well, uhhhhhhh I’ll see you later then>**

**< From LiaStarz: mhm>**

**< To LiaStarz: k bye for now>**

**< From LiaStarz: bye for now>**

Luke let out a big exhale for whatever reason after leaving the app and closing his phone. He then set the phone down on the nightstand and stretched his arms before sauntering out of the room with a light groan to add to it.

____________________

Leia was sat next to her friend, Evaan Verlaine, on the bench by the road to the school as school was already over, and they would often stay there for a few minutes before they would go home. Leia was pleased with how school was going for her, but for Evaan, not so much. Luckily, Leia was always up to help her with studies, and perhaps that’s how Evaan doesn’t just end up quitting. Either that, or Evaan simply loved having her around, or she simply realized that she didn’t have much of a choice when it came to going to school or not as not many would be pleased with her just quitting.

“Hey,” Leia greeted as she sat down next to her. “How’re you?”

“Eh,” Evaan shrugged. “I’m fine.”

“Usually, when you say that, you’re not alright,” Leia pointed out dryly.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” she sighed.

“So, what happened?”, she asked.

“Nothing, really, I’m just…bored.”

Leia chuckled, “You’re not the only one.”

“I guess I’m not.”

“Are you gonna be online on Discord later?”, Leia asked. “I will be. Maybe we could play a game of some sort.”

“You know, to this day, I’m still surprised you’re a gamer,” she smiled.

“My parents are, too,” Leia pointed out. “It’s not like they try to stop me or anything, though, as I still do well in school. Yes, I also understand that a girl like me wouldn’t seem like a gamer for very obvious reasons, but just so you know, I am not a tomboy. I’m really just a girl who has a knack for playing videogames,” she explained. “It’s nothing bad at all, really.”

“Oh, well,” she shrugged, still with the smile latched on her face. “Everyone’s got a knack for something.”

“You’re right. Anyway, are you gonna be online on Discord later?”, she asked the question a second time.

“No,” she shook her head. “I have to go somewhere later with my mom and dad, and they don’t want me spending most of my time there on my phone.”

She sighed, “Alright, then. Well, I can still be content with other people, I suppose.”

“Yeah, I’m not your only Discord friend, mind you,” she reminded her.

“I have to wait until evening to chat with said friend, however.”

“Eh, surely you can wait.”

“Yeah, that’s a good point. How have things been with Darwin?”

“Oh, uh, it’s been alright. The rumors around him being a cheat are gone, luckily. He’s loyal.”

Leia laughed before smiling at her, “Well, that’s good to hear.”

“It really is. He had me very scared for a bit,” she let out a dramatic relieved sigh.

“I know of a friend who had worse luck.”

“Mhm.”

“Is he a hopeless romantic?”, she asked with a sense of awkwardness. “You never answered that question way before.”

“Oh, right, he is,” she nodded. “Yeah, he very much is. It’s a bit awkward for some, but I love it.”

“Yeah, I do know someone with a fellow hopeless romantic for a girlfriend,” she stage-whispered.

“I bet you that friend of yours is lucky. Not gonna lie, hopeless romantics are so great to be around with, at least most of the time.”

“You know someone who’s not?”, she raised an eyebrow.

“Who?”

“No, no,” Leia shook her head. “I mean, do you know someone who’s not?”

“Er, no.”

“Alright, well,” Leia looked to the distance. “I guess I should probably go now. I still want to have some extra time for fun later.”

“You would still have a lot of time.”

“Yeah, but the more time, the better.”

Evaan chuckled, “Alright, well, bye.”

Leia waved at her, “Bye.”

Leia walked to her car that was waiting for her in the parking lot to see her mom sat in it on her phone, waiting for her. Leia knocked on the window to try and get her attention, and Breha looked before unlocking the door. She then walked to the other side to open the door and get inside. She placed her backpack at the backseats before buckling up.

“How was class?”, Breha asked.

“Oh, typical,” she answered. “Nothing much.”

“Well, let’s go home, then.”


	6. Chapter 6

Ahsoka had a chat with her assigned partner in the case, Barriss Offee. She was assigned to her by some of the people over at the Coruscant Intelligence Agency. The two of them quickly got acquainted, and one could argue they were already friends. Now, they had just gotten briefed regarding the mission. They had arrested Sheev and Lara and were now going to begin questioning the two of them. Anakin and Padmé decided to watch the interrogation as well, and they were standing behind the one-way mirror as Ahsoka entered the room in dramatic movie-styled fashion. Sheev let out a low groan as Ahsoka sat down in front of her with a confident smirk.

“Now, normally I’d spare people the dramatics, but part of me feels you don’t deserve to be spared it,” Ahsoka sighed. “Anyway, this is kind of simple, really: Do not lie to us. It’ll be hard for you to convince us that you don’t know something as if someone’s the mastermind here, it’s you. If you really don’t know, then I suppose you have to find a way to convince us that you really don’t because I’d be quite damned if you don’t know. Don’t try to escape, it won’t work. Do you understand?”

Sheev sighed before nodding, “Yes.”

“Now, yesterday, you and your wife, Lara Palpatine, engaged in a conversation at exactly 6:46 PM regarding the lives of Prince Luke and Princess Leia Skywalker. I’ll show you the transcript and proof later, just so you know. This information was provided by Lady Sabé, a royal handmaiden, and later on, we were able to find it in the security feeds using our…half-decent sound system equipped by the security cameras. It was hard to distinguish, but it worked out in the end,” Ahsoka explained with a small smug smile on numerous occasions.

“So?”

She snorted, “Well, is that true?”

“No,” he replied though he was convincing nobody.

“Really? The proof here says otherwise.”

Ahsoka played the audio recording of the camera feeds as she placed a paper in front of his cuffed hands showing the transcript. Sheev hissed ever so slightly as he began reading it.

“This is ridiculous! My wife has been spitting lies!”, Sheev protested.

“Oh, really? Well, if you knew she was lying, why would you tell her to stop?”, Ahsoka furrowed her eyebrows.

“Because-“

“Not to mention, you said these exact words,” Ahsoka said before rewinding the recording to the point that it would play the line ‘No, do not speak of this! Don’t be stupid, dear. The last thing we want them to know is that they’re alive.’

“That was edited!”

“Don’t be stupid, _Mr. Chancellor_ , if someone could’ve edited it, it was us, and do you really think we’ll fake the health of the heirs to the throne just to put you in trouble?”

Sheev sighed and shook his head, “No.”

“Exactly, now tell us, where do they reside in?”, Ahsoka asked. ‘Where are they?”

“I don’t know.”

“How are you going to convince us that you don’t know then?”, Ahsoka raised an eyebrow.

“I said I don’t know.”

“Surely, you must know something, Sheev. If someone’s the mastermind here, it’s you,” she replied tauntingly. “Are you sure you don’t know?”

He groaned, “I really don’t.”

“The last place you knew they were at then?”

He sighed before stopping for a moment to think, “Luke was left in the Tatooine Care Centre in Cavite. Leia was left in the Alderaan Care Centre in Vermont.”

Ahsoka slowly nodded, “Very well, thank you for your compliance, Mr. Palpatine.”

Sheev hissed slowly, “You will not save them.”

“Well, if someone’s going to get them from our grasp, it’s surely not you. Now, how about you enjoy some jail time while I deal with everything else so that your entire nation knows you are behind bars?”, Ahsoka smirked before marching out of the room with a satisfied look on her face knowing she has gotten one step closer to success.

“Whatever.”

____________________

“So, did you get enough information?”, Anakin asked, his arms crossed. “I really hope you did. He’s a hard one to crack.”

Ahsoka chuckled, “It wasn’t that difficult, really. I have all the information I need, and I think you did hear everything.”

Anakin nodded, “We did.”

“It wasn’t that hard to hear,” Padmé added. “So, they were put up for adoption.”

“Yeah, we’ll have to reach out to a good amount of people. Either I or someone else here will reach out to the NICA for the Philippines, and whoever they may be will also reach out to CIA for the US. We do have good relations with both of them, so this shouldn’t be all that difficult,” Ahsoka explained.

“That’s good to hear,” Padmé smiled lightly.

“Er, where’s Barriss?”

“She’s interrogating Lara,” Anakin answered.

“Oh, yeah, of course, I almost forgot.”

____________________

“I’ll spare you the dramatics, Mrs. Palpatine,” Barriss sat down in front of her. “You know what to do, just don’t lie, and everything will be alright.”

“Mhm,” she nodded with a small sigh.

“Now, surely it’s common sense that you don’t reveal something as important as the lives of royalty, so why would you do it?”, she asked, getting straight to the point. “Surely, it can’t be something unintentional, can it?”

“It isn’t,” she answered.

“Well, why’d you do it then?”, she asked, her voice was calm and collecting, almost soothing, and it was rather surprising.

“Because I knew my husband was in the wrong ever since I heard of what he done,” she answered, and her eyes began sparkling with the hints of tears. “I knew he never liked the Coruscant Realms, always said they were _too powerful_ in a way, but I didn’t think he’d plan all this to weaken the royal family, to…take away members of the royal family and make them believe they’re dead. He’s been planning this even before his Chancellorship,” Lara explained, a few tears dripping down her eyes.

“Does he have any allies?”, Barriss asked.

She nodded, “A lot of them, actually, mostly hired assassins if in case something like this got out. I didn’t want to do this and put the prince and princess in danger, but if you get ahead of everyone else, you can get to them and save them first before anyone else puts them in danger. My husband has an entire plan for when something like this happens, but I’m really sorry to say that…he never let me in on it. I know a lot, but I don’t know everything.”

Barriss took a deep breath before nodding, “Okay, alright, but do you any of those assassins you were referring to?”

“One of them was a man called Jango Fett, and if I remember correctly, he was ordered by my husband to watch over Luke. If something bad happens, he’s in charge of Luke,” she answered. “I believe that there was another one, a woman, named Asajj Ventress. She was in charge of watching over Leia. Like for Luke, if something bad happens, she’s in charge.”

“Anyone else?”

“Hmm,” she stopped for a moment to think. “I think one of his allies is General Grievous of the Exegol Army. He always conspired with him as well, but I’m not sure of his general role. He may or may not be innocent.”

“Alright, then, is that it?”

She nodded, “Yes, that’s all I remember.”

“Okay, well, thank you for your compliance.”

Lara was then led to a cell for the meantime while her fate would still be decided, and the same thing went for her husband, Sheev. Of course, Sheev was not happy, but as Lara stated, Luke and Leia may now be in danger at this very moment. After being brought to the cell and after a quick break to do a bit of business, Barriss went back to meet up with Ahsoka, Anakin, Padmé, and the rest to talk to them about her findings and to lay everything down on the table as they had to begin working if they could get to Luke and Leia in time before they ended up in even more trouble.

“So, it seems that Sheev Palpatine already has a plan for when he’s in danger and when we’re getting closer to saving Prince Luke and Princess Leia,” Barriss told the three of them. “We should move fast if we are to get ahead of them.”

“What should we do with the two of them first?”, Ahsoka asked. “We can’t just leave them here.”

Anakin raised an eyebrow, “Actually, I think we can.”

“Well, still, what do we do first?”

“I think we’ll have to go after the two of them, that’s what I’m thinking,” Anakin said rather judgingly.

“I’ll go after Princess Leia,” Ahsoka said.

“Well, I’m coming with you,” Barriss replied.

Anakin nodded, “It seems we need to send another pair to go after Luke.”

“Well, we will have to decide on that at some point.”

“I do have a few ideas, however.”


	7. Chapter 7

Later, Anakin recommended an old friend of his and an investigator/agent, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to go after Prince Luke. His request was accepted, and Obi-Wan would be assigned to go after the lost son. In addition, Obi-Wan would be taking his partner, Cody Locke, with him to the mission. Obi-Wan and Cody go way back in the agency, and Cody had Anakin’s approval and trust just as much as his partner did. Ahsoka and Barriss would pair up with one another to go after Princess Leia. The two of them didn’t know each other at first but have gotten acquainted really quickly and had a fair bit of trust with one another now.

“When are we gonna be sent off to the Philippines again?”, Cody asked Obi-Wan.

“Tomorrow, 0800, and we should get there in roughly six hours. We’ll land at Ninoy Aquino International Airport and will be brought to the NICA headquarters. Once we get there, we’ll meet up with Director-General Kitster Banai, and you probably know the rest,” he answered. “Well, we might also be paired up with an agent of theirs or the NBI, not quite sure, I’ve never been to the Philippines before.”

Cody nodded, “Well, me neither, so it’s the both of us.”

“After being paired up, we’ll be brought either straight to the house or to the Tatooine Care Centre, which was where Prince Luke was left off. I think the drive will be a bit long, but oh, well.”

“Okay.”

“And, that’s about it. However, either His Majesty, The King or Her Majesty, The Queen will come with us and will stay at the embassy to meet their child once he is brought there. We won’t take him right away, however, we’ll perhaps give him a day’s rest, but don’t worry, we have a place to stay for the evening.”

“Where?”

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow before answering, “The embassy.”

“Oh,” Cody laughed sheepishly. “Yeah, right.”

“Now, we should probably get preparing,” Obi-Wan prompted before the two of them made their way to their rooms to pack a few items that would suffice for a 1-2 day stay in another country. Obi-Wan packed all that was needed whereas Cody packed a bit too much, but overall, it wasn’t really something that Obi-Wan could say something about simply because he didn’t notice it.

____________________

The good news for Luke was that classes were finally over for him. The bad news was Mara failed to convince her parents to have her stay studying in the Philippines, and that meant that he and Mara were likely spending their last day together, causing them to stay in school slightly longer than anticipated. Classes were already over, and now, they were simply waiting for their ride home as they chatted physically for probably the last time.

“I’m going to miss you,” Luke sighed. “I really will.”

“I will, too,” Mara leaned on Luke’s shoulder and let out a sigh of her own.

“I’m really never going to see you again?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe I could visit sometimes, but it won’t ever be enough for us to work in the end.”

“Long distance never works,” Luke recited dryly.

“It really doesn’t.”

“I really don’t want to be limited to just being online friends with you.”

“Me neither,” she agreed. “I wish they’d let me stay.”

“I really wish, too, but I’m stuck here while you’re stuck over there at Coruscant. Well,” he sighed. “At least you’ll be able to learn at the best school in the country.”

“Still not as good as being able to learn with you.”

He snorted, “Well, I guess you’re right.”

“It really had to end this way,” she shook her head.

“I can’t believe it.”

The two of them sat in silence for roughly a minute, but their silence was cut by loud gunshots before an explosion shortly after. Screaming then began challenging the gunshot noises, but the sound was distinguished and was still easily noticed by the pair of Luke and Mara. Luke and Mara’s eyes shot up, so sleeping in school would now not be an option. Luke’s head jolted to the right to see a guard falling to the floor as he got shot, and he quickly grabbed Mara’s hand before shouting at her to ensure she hears it, “COME WITH ME! WE HAVE TO GET SOMEWHERE SAFE!”

“Okay,” she replied under her breath, nodding vigorously, before shooting up to her feet and following her boyfriend back into the premises. Luke barged his way through the people, bumping through the people who were either approaching the incident or heading away from it. Mara quickly looked behind her to see the gunmen making their way through the gates before emptying another magazine in their rifles, and her momentary stop caused Luke to tug on her, prompting her to keep running.

They ran.

And ran.

And ran.

They dashed up the stairs.

They stopped inside a restroom.

Mara panted, “What do we do now?”

“Shit,” Luke muttered. “We should’ve ran down the stairs.”

“Well, we have to keep going!”

“Yeah, good point,” Luke nodded before the two ran off again.

**_BOOM!_ **

Another explosion came from downstairs, rattling the flooring as they ran.

Bullets flew.

People were dying.

They were running.

Screams echoed all throughout the school.

A man stopped in front of them.

Luke and Mara skidded to a halt.

“What do we do now?”, Mara hissed before Luke panted as he tried to think. Meanwhile, the man inched closer and closer. He tossed his pistol to the ground as the two of them slowly backed off before turning around to see a man behind them. The man behind was very far behind them, but he was stopping them from running the other way. Luke looked in between to see a gap between the railings as it bent down in the middle of the cement. Luke looked at Mara, and he spoke up a second later in a whisper barely audible, “Do you trust me?”

“Of course, I do!”, she replied, almost irritated.

Luke sighed, “Then, follow me.”

Luke ran around the once-armed man before jumping on top of the cement, sliding in between the railings, and Mara closely followed. Luke looked down for a moment as he saw what was happening all the way at the school square. There were no railing protecting them from falling off, just slightly-elevated cement, and then, they were running again.

“GET BACK HERE!”, the unarmed man squeezed through the railings, ignorant of the fact that he could’ve carried his gun. Luke looked back for a moment to try to remember how he looks. The man was wearing silver-like armor, seeming quite unrealistic, but whatever it was made out of was definitely helping him out.

Luke and Mara ran across the thin path.

The screams silenced down as people everywhere were getting shot, killed, or were surrendering.

The man behind them was slowly inching closer.

Luke slowed down before Mara thumped Luke’s back.

Luke ran faster again.

Luke saw another opening in the railings.

Luke jumped in between the railings.

Mara jumped in between the next pair.

The man jumped over the railings, but his slowness allowed Luke and Mara to slip away.

“WHY ARE WE RUNNING BACK!?”, Mara shouted.

“I HAVE TO GET THE GUN!”, Luke replied.

They ran and ran.

Luke slided as the gun slid into his hands.

He skidded to a halt with Mara running up behind him.

He pointed the gun at the running man.

“GO AHEAD AND TRY ME, SKYWALKER!”

_Skywalker? What is he talking about?_

Luke shrugged the thought away.

He took aim once again.

**_PEW!_ **

A miss.

**_PEW!_ **

Another miss.

**_PEW! PEW!_ **

Two misses.

The man got closer and closer.

Luke slowed down, trying to take aim.

The man bolted to the side.

**_PEW!_ **

A fifth miss.

The man swung at Luke.

Luke sloppily stepped back.

“Fuck it,” Luke muttered.

He pistol-whipped the bigger man.

The man stumbled, trying to get on even footing.

Mara grabbed a brick from behind Luke. Luke stepped out of the way as Mara swung the brick on the man’s head.

“AGH!”, the man screamed.

The man performed a wild swing at Luke.

Luke was shoved right across the face.

Mara screamed as Luke fell to the floor, causing a thump.

Mara refocused herself before winding up the brick again.

The man ducked underneath her swing.

The brick hit the wall.

Mara dropped it.

The man stumbled to his pistol, but Mara was faster.

Mara grabbed the pistol.

The man looked up at her, causing his eyes to meet with the pistol.

“You don’t touch my Luke.”

**_PEW!_ **

The man dropped to the floor.

Mara panted before turning around to check on her boyfriend, “Luke? Luke? Are you alright?”

Luke coughed as he laid his hand on his forehead which was presumably where it hurt the most, “Yep, just give me a moment.”

She pressed a kiss to Luke’s forehead, “You’re gonna be alright, Lu.”

“Thanks, Mara, I owe you a life,” he murmured before coughing again.

“No, you don’t,” she shook her head.

“I do.”

“You don’t,” she replied stubbornly.

“Alright, alright.”

“Can you get up?”, she asked.

Luke stumbled onto his feet before slowly balancing himself out, “Yep, I can.”

“Let me help you out there,” Mara said before positioning herself under Luke’s right arm, so he could lay a good amount of his weight on her.

Mara and Luke limped to the nearest restroom and went inside before sitting by the walls.

“What do we do now?”, Luke asked.

Mara shrugged, “I’m…not sure. Hell is what’s happening here right now.”

“It’ll be okay.”

Mara sniffled before she began crying, and Luke quickly moved over, so she could lean her head on him. Luke kissed the top of her head.

“What’s happening?”, she choked out.

“I don’t know,” he answered before sighing.

A few minutes later, Mara wiped away all the tears before getting up rather forcefully, “We have to find a way out of here.”

Luke stood up, nodding, “Let’s go then.”


	8. Chapter 8

The men were clearing out the hallways on the third floor of the school. The place was a mess, but they were able to have all those who surrendered to all stay inside the basketball court in the very center of the main building. The preschool building has also already been cleared out by now, so they were very much in control. There were bodies everyone, and most were either students, teachers, janitors, security, and the students’ parents who went there to either pick them up or to simply stay there and wait for the end of the class to be able to pick up their children quickly.

“Have you seen him?”, one of them asked.

“Who?”

He groaned, “Fett, duh.”

“Right, uh, still can’t see him anywhere.”

“He has to be around here somewhere,” he sighed. “He’s definitely not downstairs.”

“Mhm,” the other man nodded.

They looked all the way across the hallway to see a man limping, and judging by the standout armor and uniform, it was most definitely their boss, Jango Fett. He had his right hand on his head, indicating he may or may not have been hit on the metal plate that was surgically implanted into his head. He had one to cover off a hole in his skull that came from an incident a long time ago. Their eyes widened for a moment before they ran to their boss who then placed his free hand onto his back, indicating he was hit there as well in their fight.

“How’re you doing, sir?”, he asked.

Jango shook his head, “Not good, did any of you find Skywalker?”

Another man shrugged, “Nope, can’t find him.”

“FUCK!”, he scowled. “I remember he had a girl with him. She ain’t gonna stand out though ‘cuz she’s wearing the same uniform as everyone else around here. Damn, he slipped away.”

“Surely, the two of them haven’t gotten out of this hellhole yet.”

Jango nodded, “We have to keep looking for them.”

“Copy that.”

____________________

“This way,” Luke whispered to Mara as he gestured to the hallway adjacent to where they were, and Mara followed.

“Where are we going?”, she asked.

“The exit,” he replied dryly.

“Yeah, but what route?”

“We’ll go down the stairs near the comp lab, not the high school lounge,” he answered. “We may still be obvious, but it’s the closest to the school service gate.”

She nodded, “Well, alright. We don’t really have much of a choice, do we?”

He chuckled slightly, “We really don’t.”

“So much for a last day together.”

He sighed before repeating, “So much for a last day together.”

“Come on, let’s go, we gotta make it out of here alive.”

They ran.

Water leaked from the damaged ceiling.

_Plip, plip, plip._

A few occasional gunshots came.

_PEW! PEW!_

And, they were scared.

_Breathe._

_Inhale._

_Exhale._

_Inhale._

_Exhale._

Footsteps came.

“Stop,” Luke whispered, raising his hand to make it clear.

The man passed by, his footsteps getting quieter and quieter as they got away.

_Breathe._

_Inhale._

_Exhale._

_Inhale._

_Exhale._

They kept running again.

Their footsteps were haste yet quiet.

Three men were clearing out the area in front of them.

“Stop.”

They held their breath.

The three men split up into different directions.

_Breathe._

_Inhale._

_Exhale._

_Inhale._

_Exhale._

Luke and Mara were close to the stairs.

The stairs to safety was right there.

They had to make a break for it.

“Let’s make a break for it?”, Luke asked.

She nodded, “Yep.”

“Here goes nothing.”

_3._

_2._

_1._

Luke and Mara dashed to the stairs. Their feet making much more noise than when they were running around the campus earlier.

“SKYWALKER!”, a familiar voice shouted.

Luke looked back to see the man Mara supposedly killed earlier, “W-what?”

“I think I hit him at the side of the head!”, Mara exclaimed as the two kept running.

They ran into more people as they looked to the right.

Other way.

Luke and Mara ran to the left.

They were further away from the exit.

They ran up the ramp.

_THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!_

They ran down another hallway.

**_PEW! PEW!_ **

They shouted in surprise as they kept running.

Luke whirled around and went down the opposite route.

Mara followed.

Bullets whirled past or hit the railings as they tried to shoot them down.

They dashed into the cafeteria now.

_THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!_

One of the men ran down the ramp to cut them off.

Luke and Mara ran faster.

They could see the exit.

They made a break for it.

_THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THU- **THUMP!**_

Something hit the back of both of their heads.

They were knocked out.

____________________

Luke’s eyes fluttered open. He was in a dark room, just like those in the action movies, but he slowly began to recognize someone sat in front of him, tied to the back of the cafeteria chair just like he was. Surprisingly, his mouth wasn’t taped, but he looked to the side to see that the tape that should probably be on his mouth had fallen down to the floor, and perhaps, it was for the better.

He soon recognized it was Mara in front of him, “Mara?”

The girl’s eyes fluttered open. Her mouth, unlike his, was taped, but he could just barely understand what she said, “Lu?”

Not knowing what to say, he simply apologized, “I-I’m sorry. It’s my fault we ended up in here.”

“It’s okay,” she barely spoke out, but it seemed Luke recognized it.

A chuckle came from somewhere in the unusually-dark room, and the man who was supposedly dead earlier came in, “This reminds me of a movie, actually. I don’t know what though.”

Luke groaned as he furrowed his eyebrows, “What do you want?”

“You,” he answered with a smirk. “No homo, though.”

Luke stifled a laugh, still wondering how he even had the chance to laugh in the first place, but he was glad Mara didn’t notice it.

“What do you want from me? And, why do you have Mara with me? What does she have to do with this, huh?”

“Well, perhaps I should introduce myself first,” he chuckled again. “I’m Jango Fett, the man hired to kill you.”

“Hired to kill me? What!?”

“What? You don’t know?”

“Do you think I do?”, he replied dryly.

He snorted, “You’re a funny one, eh? How about we let the girl introduce yourself, actually?”. He then ripped the tape off Mara’s mouth, leading to an “ow” from her.

Mara sulkily answered, “I’m Mara Jade.”

Jango smiled before looking at Luke, “Alright, kid, your turn.”

Luke rolled his eyes, “I’m Luke Lars.”

“Luke Lars?”, he snorted. “It’s Luke Skywalker, kid.”

“That’s what you were calling me earlier, huh?”

“Mhm,” he nodded.

“What does that name even mean?”

Jango laughed a bit too much, “Really? You don’t know?”

Luke slowly shook his head, “No…”

Jango pulled out a gun and pointed it to Mara, causing Luke to shout, “NO!”

He ignored what Luke said and ordered Mara, “Alright, girl, do you know your countries well?”

Mara nodded vigorously, “Y-yes.”

“What about their leaders? You know them, too?”

“A-a bit, yes.”

“Alright,” Jango began to smile. “Answer this: Who is the King of the Coruscant Realms?”

“Anakin,” she answered.

Jango tapped the barrel to her head, causing her to flinch, “Anakin who?”

“Anakin…Skywalker,” her eyes widened at Luke right before she mentioned the surname, and Luke did the same.

Luke then shook his head vigorously in disbelief, “No, no, this can’t be true!”

“Has it never occurred to you, kiddo, that you looked like a foreigner? Has no one ever told you that you look like a kid from Coruscant?”

“Even still, it…can’t be true!”, he shouted a bit louder.

“W-what if it is, Lu?”, Mara asked quietly.

“Oh, it won’t matter if it’s true or not. You’re dying today, anyway,” Jango pointed out. “I’d like to have a bit of fun, however.”

“What do you mean _fun_?”, Luke practically spat the last word out.

“Fun,” he repeated rather unspecifically before shooting the side of Mara’s leg.

“AGHHHHH!”, she screamed and winced.

“Oh, don’t be such a crybaby, sweetheart,” he teased. “It was only a light scrape on the leg, nothing to worry about.”

“You’re supposed to be dead!”, Luke shouted at him. “MARA SHOT YOU EARLIER!”

“Metal plating, kiddo,” he replied before tapping the side of the head that Mara shot.

“B-but, you fell to the floor!”

He snorted, “It’s called playing dead.”

There was an extremely awkward moment of silence, but with that silence, Luke was able to hear rapid footsteps coming from outside the room along with muffled shouting. As if on cue, people burst into the room with flashlights and likely a gun as well, “STOP RIGHT THERE!”

Knowing he only had one mission, Jango aimed his gun at Luke, but before he could pull the trigger, he was shot either in the heart or near it. Either way, it caused him to drop the gun and drop to the floor. Luke’s heart felt like it skipped a beat, and it was for good reason. The police flocked Jango Fett with their guns aiming down at him.

Eventually, Luke and Mara were untied.

____________________

“Come, please,” one of the officers told Luke, causing him to have to leave Mara.

He was then led to three men. One of them looked very different in clothing, but they all had that secretive vibe to them.

“I’m Officer Mathis Rasay, NBI,” the man in the middle introduced himself before looking to the two men behind him. “How about you two introduce yourselves?”

The light brown-haired man to his right stepped forward and offered a hand to shake, “I’m Agent Obi-Wan Kenobi, Coruscant Intelligence.”

Luke shook his hand before his eyes widened, “Wait, C-Coruscant Intelligence?”

He nodded, “Mhm.”

“S-so, it i-is true,” he looked down, almost in shame.

“Jango Fett told you, didn’t he?”, Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Luke slowly nodded before sighing, “He did tell me that.”

“I see.”

“Cody Locke, Coruscant Intelligence,” the third man introduced himself, and Luke shook his hand promptly.

“Tell you what, Luke, how about you get your stuff first?”, Obi-Wan suggested. “We can deal with everything else later.”


	9. Chapter 9

Luke sat quietly in the car. He was being driven to the Coruscant Embassy now, and his parents came with him. Their car was heavily-guarded, so the view was a bit compromised, to say the least, but he could still appreciate a fair bit of sightseeing as it wasn’t all that compromised. He could still sightsee relatively easily.

“Are you nervous?”, Beru asked.

Luke slowly nodded, “To meet my parents? Yes.”

Owen shrugged, “Well, at least you can speak fluent English. You’re also the reason we speak a lot of English ourselves.”

Luke chuckled lightly, “I guess you’re right about that, pa.”

“Me and your mum, we’re learning.”

“Haven’t you always been good at it?”, Luke asked.

“Depends on what you call good.”

“Good point.”

“Also, we brought some, uh, pictures of you, Luke,” Beru pointed out.

Luke’s eyes widened, “What!? No, not those pictures!”

She chuckled, “They’re just baby pictures of you, Luke, don’t worry about it. Well, maybe baby pictures and more.”

Luke groaned, “Really?”

“Really,” she gave a teasing grin. “Your parents would definitely want pictures of you. Oh, and we also have a few videos in our old phones that we brought of you at a young age.”

Luke raised an eyebrow, “Phones aren’t allowed inside embassies.”

“Not if they surrender it to us,” Obi-Wan pointed out. He was their chauffeur that day, and he was also admittedly a bit of a slow one.

____________________

Luke was led through a few rooms that he’d never been through before. He had been to the Coruscant Embassy before, but that was simply to get their Coruscant visa for a vacation trip. They parked up in an underground parking lot, exclusive to certain people only as it said in the sign, and the parking lot wasn’t all that full at all. From the corner of his eye, Luke also saw an awful lot of black-suited people entering a room, and he had the feeling they were possibly security agents of some kind.

Obi-Wan and Cody led them to another room, however, and it led them to an elevator. After waiting a good few seconds, the doors slid open, and they entered the elevator. There was an awkward silence as they went up to the next floor, but as the doors slid open, they followed Obi-Wan and Cody again. The two of them led the three into a quiet room with a few couches, most likely a waiting room of some kind. They sat down and waited in a bit of an awkward silence for whoever was going to walk through the two brown doors in front of them.

Luke still found it difficult to believe that he was a child of the royal family. Despite them saying that his parents were the king and queen consort, he had the feeling that he was just going to be the child of a noble at most. He also began to think of what would happen to his life by that time. Surely, he couldn’t just stay in the Philippines, and he already knew his citizenship as a Filipino was in question. What would happen to his school life? Would he be moved to a school in Coruscant? He had far too many questions, and it would take quite a while to answer them all.

He looked to the side to see Beru and Owen shuffling through a few childhood pictures of him, and he groaned, “Really?”

Beru shrugged, “I was being serious when I said I brought pictures of you.”

“ _We_ were being serious,” Owen corrected.

Luke rolled his eyes and sighed, “Whatever.”

Roughly a minute later, the doors opened, and Luke, Beru, and Owen shot their heads up. Beru and Owen then stepped off the couch and back to the side. Luke wanted to follow, but his eyes were already met.

His eyes were met with the eyes of his biological father. He had long brown hair extending all the way to the bottom of his neck. He was wearing a blue button-up sweater over his white shirt, possibly as the room was quite cold, much colder than any other airconditioned rooms he had stayed in. He paired it with black jeans and black leather shoes. It wasn’t kingly, but Luke now knew all too well that he was staring into the eyes of the King of Coruscant, and more importantly, the eyes of his father.

His father was standing next to a woman of similar age. She was wearing a flowing yellow dress, simple but elegant, and she paired it up with a pair of black ballet flats. Her brown hair was bunched up into a simple ponytail. It seemed as though the two of them tried to look as casual and normal as they could, but Luke knew she was his consort, the Queen of Coruscant, and more importantly, she was his mother.

There was an awkward silence as the couple stared at their son for a bit, but when Luke stood up, Padmé dashed forward and hugged her son tightly.

“Oh, my Luke, you don’t know how much we’ve missed you,” she choked out as tears fell from her eyes. “We’ve missed you so much. It’s been so long since we last seen you.” Anakin joined in on the hug as well.

“We-we thought you were dead, son,” Anakin pointed out.

“R-really?”, Luke asked as he hugged back.

“Really,” Anakin nodded. “It’s a very long story, though.”

Anakin then let go of Luke and went over to Beru and Owen, and his wife followed him.

“I’ll never be able to find a way to thank you two enough. You two have done so much for us and for the Realms. Thank you so much, really, I mean it,” he said.

Owen chuckled sheepishly, “Oh, it’s nothing.”

“We’re just so glad to see him so…healthy and handsome and…grown-up. My husband’s right to say that we can’t thank you two enough,” Padmé added. “Just so you two know, you have all our thanks, and if you two ever need anything as of the moment, just ask and perhaps we can fulfill it or at least do something about it.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine, but maybe just let Luke stay for one or two more days as he needs to pack up, and we do still want to spend a bit more time with him,” Beru said, and the couple nodded. “Surely, you two must need something.”

“Is Luke’s school over though?”, Anakin asked.

“Just finished,” she answered.

“We were just wondering if we could get a…copy of Luke’s report card when it comes, even just a second copy or extra one, because we don’t want to hold Luke back on his education. We want to move him to a high school in Coruscant before start of the school year there, so he can easily get back on track,” Anakin explained. “It would really be a big help if you two could do that.”

Beru nodded repeatedly, “Oh, of course, but we would…need a place to send it, though.”

“We could just…talk about that later or when Luke comes back here to go to Coruscant then,” he replied. “Doesn’t have to be right now.”

“Oh, that would be no problem.”

“Wait, wait, what school?”, Luke asked from behind them, and Anakin and Padmé turned around.

“We’re planning on moving you to National Coruscant High School, dear, but that really depends. We haven’t got a look at your grades yet,” Padmé answered. “National Coruscant High School does have relatively high standards, if not very high standards.”

Beru smiled from behind them, “Oh, trust me, he’s an honor student last year and probably this year as well. He really studies quite hard, you’ll love it.”

“Well, that’s good to hear,” Anakin replied with a smirk on his face. “Though we did kind of see it coming.”

Luke’s eyes widened after hearing his mother’s answer, “Mara’s going there.”

Anakin raised an eyebrow, “Who’s Mara?”

“His girlfriend,” Owen answered. “I remember him going on about missing her knowing she’d go to that school.”

Anakin slowly nodded with a bit of a suspicious look on his face, “Ah, I see.”

Luke chuckled sheepishly, “Uh, well, about that…”

Padmé chuckled before teasing him, “Luke was always meant to be a heartbreak kid.”

Luke groaned, “Really?”

His biological father laughed, a lovely smile on his face, “It’s a compliment, Luke.”

“Mhm,” Luke rolled his eyes.


	10. Chapter 10

Leia, Bail, and Breha were all enjoying a quiet dinner on a weekend together. Their weekends, if they weren’t going anywhere that day, were often very quiet, and Leia would spend most of the day playing videogames and locking herself in her room, playing with her online friends or with Evaan. It wasn’t that difficult for people to know that Leia was a bit of a gamer. It was only a minor interest for her back then, but due to Evaan, it was now normal for her to get her hands on a controller and get playing. Both Bail and Breha knew this very well, but they didn’t really bother with it knowing it didn’t affect Leia in her studies.

“Didn’t you say Evaan was coming over?”, Bail asked.

“Oh, uh, right, she hasn’t said anything about it,” Leia replied. “I’m just gonna hope that if she does come, it’s not so late into dinner.”

“Well, she’s a bit lucky. We’ve only just started after all,” Breha pointed out. “I guess you could thank my slow cooking for that.”

Leia chuckled, “Well, thank you.”

“You’re welcome, dear,” she smirked.

“Oh, Leia, me and your mother also, uh, got a call earlier today,” Bail said, attracting Leia’s attention.

“A call? What is it about?”, she asked. “I hope it’s something interesting.”

“It is, but it’s not necessarily interesting…in a good way, at least not from what we think.”

Their daughter raised an eyebrow, “What is it then? Just tell me, dad, don’t be so cryptic.”

“Okay, alright,” he sighed. “Well, a person, an agent, reached out to us earlier, and they stated that there was a very big…mess behind your adoption. Apparently, you got to the Alderaan Care Center via being…smuggled into the country.”

“F-from what country?”, Leia asked, her eyes widened as she was full of shock.

“You were from Coruscant.”

“H-how?”, Leia asks.

Bail shrugged, “Don’t know, but…they want to meet you.”

“My…actual parents? As in biological?”

He nodded, “Yes, them.”

“So, I was taken from my…Coruscanti parents, is that what this is?”

“Yes.”

“Why would I be so important and high-value as to be smuggled out of my home country?”, Leia mused.

“You’ll be taken to the Coruscant Embassy in two days, and we’ll be with you there. Your parents will see you there,” Bail explained. “Maybe also bring a few pictures with us.”

“Wait a minute, we’re going to the Coruscant Embassy?”, she asked.

She expected Bail to answer, but Breha did, “Yep, we’ll be brought there by car, I think. It’s not that far of a trip, after all.”

“If I’ll see my parents at the embassy, then…they must be important people,” she said.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

____________________

Leia and her family were now being taken to the Coruscant Embassy. Her parents never told her about who her biological parents actually were, but she thought it was perhaps because she’d never asked about it. She decided not to ask about it at all to leave it as a bit of a surprise. They probably did know considering they were probably told that during their call. Leia thought that her parents were either very rich people or politicians or nobles (or both considering nobles and politicians would most likely be very rich people), but she was mainly leaning towards the very rich or the politicians. She didn’t think she’d be the child of a noble, no way, but she did dream of having the prefix “Lady” next to her name.

After parking up in the basement, the two agents who were with them, named Ahsoka and Barriss, led them to an elevator, and they entered before going up a floor. Leia and company were then led to a waiting room of some sort, filled with couches, a center table, and some portraits to the side. Out of boredom and curiosity, Leia decided to examine one of the portraits there, the larger one.

It was a portrait depicting the coronation of the reigning king of the Coruscant Realms, King Anakin Skywalker. It was painted so unrealistically well that she thought it was a digital picture for a good few moments, but it wasn’t. It was just the case of being an outstanding painting. She wondered why they didn’t bother to just use a digital portrait, but it did add to the impressiveness of it at the very least. She wasn’t sure, but it could just be a painting copied digitally.

Leia planned on checking out another portrait, but she instead just sat back down on the large black couch facing the door in front of her.

Ten seconds later, the doors opened to reveal a teenage girl, most likely her age or younger, wearing a simple red dress and ballet flats with her hair let down. She walked to Leia, gaping, and Leia stood up to acknowledge her.

“H-hi,” the young female greeted awkwardly with a small yet gracious wave.

“Hey,” Leia greeted back, rubbing the back of her neck shyly. “You…don’t look like my parent.”

She snorted, “Of course, I’m not. I’m your younger sister.”

“I…have a sister?”, Leia raised an eyebrow.

“Hehe, yeah.”

“Well,” Leia began to smile. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Asher.”

“Leia,” she replied.

“Leia,” Asher repeated, a small smile on her face as she spoke. “Nice name.”

“Thanks,” Leia thought she blushed as she felt her cheeks heat up rather oddly.

Only now did Leia notice that Bail and Breha have left the room, but as if on cue, the doors that Asher came in from opened to reveal Bail and Breha entering the room again.

Behind them, three people entered. She could easily recognize one of them, and that was Anakin Skywalker, the King of the Coruscant Realms in all his glory, wearing a dark purple blazer over a plain white polo. He paired it with black slacks and black leather shoes. His hair was just the same as that in the portrait, albeit perhaps a bit longer and slightly less tidy.

A woman stood next to him, and thinking with common sense, she assumed that was his wife and the Queen Consort, Padmé Skywalker. She wore a dark red coatdress combined with a red shirt underneath and black pants with a pair of black heeled boots. If someone seemed more dressed for whatever occasion they were in, it was definitely her.

Then, there was an unrecognizable teenage boy next to Anakin. He was standing there rather awkwardly. Though all three looked awkward, the teenage boy had it the most. He wore a decorated white polo above a pair of blue jeans and rubber shoes, not really seeming like someone who had a thing for royal fashion or just fashion in general, but that was really just her opinion.

“W-what?”, Leia mumbled, but it seemed to fall to deaf ears. She got up and walked in front of the three of them before performing a poorly-executed curtsy, causing her to wince for a moment.

Trying to get herself out of the awkward atmosphere, Leia asked a question that just seemed to make it even more awkward, “Uh…w-what are you doing h-here?”

Ignoring the question, Anakin made a comment on the curtsy, “I don’t really think it’s in American culture to curtsy to your parents.”

Leia gaped at him, “W-what?”

Padmé moved closer to Anakin, still looking at Leia, “Did you not get the…message?”

“What message?”

“That…you were here to meet your parents?”

Leia’s eyes widened before she whispered, “Oh, my God.” She then slowly retreated backwards, clearly out of fear or shock as she tensed up.

She was stopped by Asher, “Leia, please calm down.”

Leia then looked at Bail and Breha, still wide-eyed, “I-is this…”

Breha nodded, “They’re your parents, dear.”

“Leia, please calm down, we’re not trying to hurt you or scare you, we promise,” Padmé reassured her, her voice was very soothing that Leia could feel herself relax at least a bit after hearing her words. Padmé then cautiously approached Leia, and Leia essentially froze herself in place. When Padmé was almost touching her with how close she was, she spoke softly again, “Calm down, Leia, please…”

Leia took deep breaths before nodding vigorously and replying in a voice as soft as Padmé’s, “Okay.”

Padmé began to smile as Leia’s breathing slowed down, “There you go.”

____________________

“So, Leia, here is your twin brother, Luke,” Anakin introduced, and Leia let out a barely-audible ‘hi’ in reply.

“Leia,” Luke repeated before a small chuckle.

“What’s so funny about it?”, Leia raised an eyebrow, tempted to cross her arms but deciding otherwise.

“No, no,” he shook his head. “You just remind me of an internet friend of mine.”

“Who?”

“Actually, she’s a Discord user, and her user is LiaStarz if I’m correct.”

Leia’s eyes widened, “Wait, wait, _LiaStarz?_ ”

Luke nodded, “Mhm.”

“That’s my username!”, she exclaimed, and Luke was rather surprised by it. “Do you know someone with the user _DoubleLLuke?_ ”

He nodded vigorously, “That’s _my_ user.”

“AHHHH!”, Luke and Leia screamed like girls before hugging passionately and jumping up and down.

Anakin looked at the two of them awkwardly, “Uh, I’m glad that you two got along quickly, but…are we missing something here?”

The two of them stopped jumping, and it was Luke who answered his question, grinning, “Me and Leia are gaming friends, we just found out.”

Padmé smiled, “That’s great. I guess that means you two know a good bit about each other?”

“Yep,” Leia replied. “Wait, wait, just to get something straight…”

“Hm?”

“Since I’m your child, doesn’t that make me a princess?”

Padmé smiled again, “Mhm, and Luke here is a prince. I know that the following days will be hard for you two, but I’m sure you two can handle it.”

They had a solid chat for roughly five minutes, but that was until Anakin began hearing something.

“Padmé, do you hear that?”

_Gunshots._

“Gunshots,” she replied, her voice quiet as she felt scared.

Suddenly, an agent of theirs burst into the room, “YOUR MAJESTIES, WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!”

The lights went dark.

Everyone was shouting and screaming and tripping over each other.

The lights went back on.

Anakin and Padmé were led out of the room with the other agents, Luke, Asher, Bail, Breha, and…

Where’s Leia?


	11. Chapter 11

“No, no, no,” Padmé shook her head in disbelief, tears piling up from behind her eyes. “Where’s Leia, Ani? Where is she!? Where is she!?”

Anakin seemed to be freaking out himself, “I…can’t see her anywhere!”

Padmé began crying, “No, no, don’t tell me we lost her. Please don’t tell me we lost her again! Please, no, no!”

Anakin desperately tried to find a way to deal with it, and his eyes met Ahsoka’s, “Ahsoka, look for her! The other agents can handle us. Go look for Leia, now!”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Ahsoka nodded before running off where they came from, pistol in her hand as she charged back into the rooms.

Anakin quickly hugged his wife, burying her face in his chest, “Ahsoka’s going after her now, okay?”

“Okay,” she choked out, barely nodding as she kept on crying. “I don’t want to lose them again.”

“Me neither,” he agreed. “Me neither, Padmé.”

“F-father?”, Luke said from behind Anakin, and he felt a bit weirded out with calling Anakin that.

Anakin looked at Luke, tears all over his eyes just like Padmé, “Yes, Luke?”

Luke didn’t say much, “It’ll be okay. We can get through this.” He joined in on the hug, however. Padmé laid a hand on Luke as he hugged, and Asher eventually joined in on the hug herself. Anakin could hear Padmé sobbing into his chest, and he didn’t do much apart from humming a calming tune that his mother taught him when he was a child. It was something Padmé enjoyed, and Anakin could tell that it was at least making her less scared and calmer.

____________________

The place was eerie and dark, at least through Ahsoka’s eyes. The shut lights above her would occasionally spark like it always did in those movies and horror games, and there were bodies laying everywhere. Every once in a while, Ahsoka could hear footsteps and speaking, but when she would go in to check on it, the voices were gone. It partly felt like a horror movie of some kind, the one that would pop up on the movie channels people would scroll through, but she knew it was real. Oh, it was _so_ real.

She tiptoed through the dark premises, her gun pointed downward, but her hands were tightly gripping onto it. She could feel herself shaking and shivering as she moved along, still hearing those distant noises coming closer before fading away shortly after. It was difficult, but she was memorizing her way back to the pack she had left behind, making sure that she didn’t go too far to the point that she couldn’t remember where to go after finding Leia. To top the frightening feel off, a vague mist engulfed the premises, making it far colder than it already was.

Ahsoka remained vigilant and with her guard up. She looked to an open doorway and could’ve sworn she saw a pair of feet walking past it. Ahsoka advanced to the doorway, her gun pointing to what was in front of her. She walked through the doorway and entered a large room, papers with prints on it scattered everywhere across the floor. She then began to recognize someone sitting on a chair along with a woman crouched right next to her. She squinted as she tried to get a better look.

Eventually, she could make out who was there. The woman sat on the chair (and tied to it) was Leia, and the woman crouched right next to her (and pointing a gun at her) was…Barriss Offee.

Ahsoka’s arm with the gun shot up as she looked at her colleague, “Barriss…”

“Ahsoka,” she smirked as she replied.

“Put it down…”, Ahsoka spoke softly before shouting. “PUT THE GUN DOWN!”

She snorted, “What if I don’t want to?”

“Then, maybe I’ll put you down instead,” Ahsoka retorted, narrowing her eyes. “And, to think, I actually called you a friend.”

Barriss laughed, “I thought you would’ve learned the truth by now.”

Ahsoka sighed as she began lowering her gun, “I always knew you were too kind.”

“Well, I’m surprised you didn’t do anything about it.”

“Well, I’ll do something about it now,” Ahsoka said firmly before pointing her gun at Barriss again. At this time, Leia began speaking, but due to the tape on her mouth, she couldn’t do so.

“I think not,” she slowly shook her head with a smirk, and a few seconds later, the barrel of a gun tapped the back of Ahsoka’s neck. Ahsoka could’ve swore she froze for a good five seconds before she slowly raised her hands up and slowly turned around. The woman pointing to gun at her, smirking, just so happened to be the infamous Asajj Ventress. She was expecting her to come at some point, but she wasn’t expecting her to begin doing her job at the last possible moment, but she was doing it now. Better late than never, she supposed.

“Was I a bit late?”, Asajj teased.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes and sighed as she dropped her gun, “I wish you’d never come at all.”

She snorted, “Well, that’s too bad, dear.”

“Could you have come at a worse time?”, Ahsoka suppressed a groan.

“Maybe, so I guess you’re lucky,” Asajj shrugged. “I don’t know, really. I guess not, though.”

Ahsoka began to smirk as she looked behind her, “I don’t think you’re lucky either.”

Asajj narrowed her eyes, “What do you mean?”

“You’ll see.” A loud thump hit the back of Asajj who somehow didn’t end up knocked out. Ahsoka turned around, picked up her pistol, and she began shooting at Barriss, causing Leia to scream in fear. Barriss retreated to the back of a couch behind the chair Leia was tied to. Ahsoka kept shooting, not wanting to try and free Leia until she knew Barriss was dead. She then stepped behind Leia’s seat to ensure Barriss didn’t get a shot on the back of Leia’s chair.

Meanwhile, Rex, the man who hit Asajj in the back, was getting himself in a fistfight with the angered woman. Asajj swung at him with wild and uncalculated swings while Rex was throwing quick jabs and punches at her, handling the fight much better. He would often shoot glances at Ahsoka to see how she was doing before quickly looking back at his opponent. Rex didn’t mind breaking a bit of sweat as he fought as he was fighting for the right thing here.

He punched. She punched.

**_PEW! PEW! PEW!_ **

Screams still came from Leia.

Rex and Asajj kept exchanging fists.

They fought and fought.

The world faded as hell descended in the room.

The clock kept ticking.

The clock got shot.

The clock broke.

Time didn’t matter, however.

All that mattered for them right now was winning.

As the fight raged on, the four of them tired out. Eventually, Rex knocked Asajj on the head hard, causing her to fall to the ground. Ahsoka successfully hit Barriss on the shoulder, and she screamed in pain as she fell to the floor behind the couch. Ahsoka advanced, her gun pointed to the floor. Knowing Barriss would be aiming at her, Ahsoka went the long way around the couch to make sure Barriss couldn’t get a shot at her. She made it around, and Barriss didn’t seem to notice her.

Ahsoka took the pistol out of Barriss’ hand as Barriss let out a light hiss to express her displeasure. Ahsoka laughed rather villainously as she stared down at the woman she once considered a friend.

“Well, looks like you failed,” Ahsoka murmured.

“I have, but at least I won’t live with the shame of serving the Coruscant Realms,” Barriss narrowed her eyes.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes, “Maybe I shouldn’t let you die all that quickly then.”

Ahsoka shot her in the stomach. She then shot her in the left leg, savoring in Barriss’ screams of pain. She shot her on the side of the neck. Finally, she shot her in the head, killing off her former colleague.

Rex didn’t seem to be carrying a gun with him, so Ahsoka handed him one to finish Asajj off. Just like Barriss, Asajj hissed as the barrel of the gun was looking down on her. Rex smirked before pulling the trigger.

Leia was safe.

Ahsoka quickly began untying the ropes of Leia as Rex slowly but surely took off the tape on her mouth. Leia’s eyes and nose were reddish from all the crying and screaming as she slowly got up. When she got up, Ahsoka gave her a soothing hug and checked her to see if she had anything suspicious on her.

“Are you okay, Your Highness?”, Ahsoka asked, not looking at her as she asked.

Leia didn’t answer, somehow thinking Ahsoka was referring to someone else, so Ahsoka looked at her and asked again, “Your Highness, are you alright?”

“Oh, uh, yeah, I guess I am,” Leia nodded.

“Great,” Ahsoka began to smile. “Now, I think we should get your parents.”


	12. Chapter 12

“Oh, Leia!”, Padmé ran to her daughter, tears in her eyes as she was being trailed by Anakin. She then almost practically lunged at her with a tight hug as Anakin followed suit. “You’re alright, you’re okay, you’re okay.”

“Yes,” Leia hugged back. “I’m…okay.”

“Oh, thank God, I thought we lost you again,” she sobbed.

“We really did. We’re glad you’re alright, Leia,” Anakin agreed as he rubbed Padmé’s back. He then looked at Ahsoka and Rex. “Ahsoka, you did great, and…you too, Rex.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” they replied in unison.

Rex rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, it’s our job, and we did it.”

“Yeah,” Anakin slowly nodded with a small smile. “You did do it.”

Asher joined in on the hug. Luke joined in on the hug as well before looking at a teary-eyed Padmé, “So, mother, we’re complete now?”

Padmé nodded before letting out another sob, “Yes, we’re complete now.”

“That’s great,” Luke smiled.

She chuckled through her tears, “It is.”

Roughly a minute later, they ended their hug and were now all looking at each other. Padmé’s tears began drying off as Anakin began speaking business, “The media will…implode when they find out about you two, Luke, Leia.”

Leia nodded, “O-okay.”

He raised a hand in an attempt to reassure her, “Don’t worry, though, we’ll deal with all that. You two have a lot to get to, so it’s the least we could do if me and your mother deal with the political and social backlash.”

“W-will they a-accept us though?”, Luke asked nervously, leading to a shaky voice.

Padmé gave a reassuring smile, “They will, and it’s not like they really have a choice if they don’t.”

Luke chuckled, “You’re right.”

“Though no member of the Skywalker bloodline has really ever been hated or disliked by the majority of people, only really a few consorts, not including me,” Padmé pointed out. “Also, just don’t tell anyone I said that.”

Luke sighed in relief, “Well, that’s good news.”

“Don’t we have to go through some sort of formal etiquette training?”, Leia asked.

Anakin nodded, “Mhm, you do.”

“Don’t worry though,” Asher said. “There’s a lot of benefits.”

Leia raised an eyebrow, “Like?”

“First off, you get one of the most expensive wardrobe in all the realms. You have a group of handmaidens who will help you out. You even have access to a lot of designer clothes and can even request for your own if you or mother or father are up to pay for it. You can wear a lot of flashy and stylish clothing.”

Leia shook her head, “I’m not really a flashy type.”

“Oh, that’s fine!”, Asher exclaimed. “You have pretty much every type of clothing in the Realms in your wardrobe…or wardrobes. I mean, mother and father have a room dedicated to their clothes!”

Leia looked at her parents, wide-eyed, “Really?”

Anakin smirked and nodded, “Really, though I don’t really use much of them.”

“What would I get?”

“Asher has four wardrobes, so you and Luke would get the same,” Anakin answered.

“That’s a lot.”

“What can you expect from a royal?”, he replied dryly.

“I mean, it’s not like you’ll end up using all of them. You’ll be spending a lot of time at school or indoors,” her mother pointed out.

“Will we be revealed to media soon?”, Luke asked.

Padmé shrugged, “Me and your father will still talk about it, but even then, we’re not planning on asking you two to make a public appearance anytime soon, just so you know.”

“That is unless you two would like to show up to the public early on,” Anakin added. “If you want to, just tell us.”

Leia nodded, “Well, I don’t really want to show up to the public early on. Maybe just telling them that we’re alive is enough.”

“Okay, that sounds good.”

“Royal life is the last thing I was expecting.”

“Tell me about it,” Luke sighed. “Even if my parents told me I was the child of a royal, I still only believed I was probably the child of some noble.”

Padmé reassured them with a smile, “You two can do it, and I’m sure you two will be great, both as older siblings and as prince and princess.”

____________________

_“Hello, all, we are sure all of you have heard of the rumors surrounding the survival of our eldest children, Prince Luke and Princess Leia. Now, we are proud, and rather relieved, to announce that our children are indeed alive.”_

_Applause came from the large audience, complimented with a bit of howling as well. Anakin smiled in response before speaking again._

_“Our children, Luke and Leia, are in the palace as of the moment, settling into it. However, we would also like to announce that they will not be making any sort of public appearance anytime soon, at least none are planned for them at the moment. We are focused on helping them settle into their new life in the palace, and we intend to keep on doing that for a while. Thank you, all of you, for listening.”_

_Applause came again, albeit much, much louder. Anakin grinned, and Padmé, who was sat serenely behind him, did the same._

“Looks like they love you two already,” Asher observed.

“You’re right about that,” Leia agreed. “It’s a good thing we won’t be absolutely murdered by the media right now.”

Luke snorted, “Enjoy it, media will be all over us when we make our first appearance.”

“You’re right,” Leia sighed. “Well, we might as well make sure we look good on our first appearance.”

Shortly after, Anakin and Padmé entered the room.

“So, was the speech good?”, their father asked.

Leia nodded, “Mhm, well, it’s not bad.”

“That’s great because your mother over here says a lot of my speeches are subpar.”

“That’s because it is,” Padmé retorted dryly. “I do much better speeches. Your only good speech was your coronation speech, and that was short.”

“Whatever,” Anakin rolled his eyes. “I mean, wasn’t this speech good? My NATO speech was good as well.”

“Today’s ‘speech’ isn’t a speech, Ani, it’s an announcement,” she pointed out. “Also, your NATO speech was half-decent, I’ll admit.”

“Half-decent?”, he scoffed. “Really, Padmé, it’s better than that.”

“Fine, it’s better than that,” Padmé conceded.

____________________

**_A month and a half later…_ **

“Motherrrrrr, I’m nervous,” Leia whined.

“You’ll do fine, Leia,” Padmé reassured her.

“Besides, it’s only a garden party,” Anakin added.

“A _royal_ garden party,” Luke replied, an eyebrow raised.

“Still just a garden party,” Asher pointed out, crossing her arms for a few moments. “Trust me, you two will love it, it’s one of my favorite public events to attend as a royal.”

Leia sighed, “Well, I hope that’s the case.”

“It’s also quite a peaceful one, too.”

“Stand up, you two,” Padmé said, a small smile on her face. “I want to see how you two look.”

Luke and Leia stood up in unison and faced their parents. Anakin and Padmé were smiling as they looked at the outcome. Leia was wearing a light pink coatdress over her black shirt and pair of black heeled boots. Luke, on the other hand, was wearing a light grey blazer over his white undershirt, black slacks, and leather shoes, making him look older than he actually is. As Anakin, Padmé, and Asher looked, Luke and Leia looked down rather shyly, almost feeling ashamed.

“You two look stunning,” Padmé grinned at them, causing their eyes to shoot up to meet hers.

Luke blushed as Leia reacted, “Really?”

“Mhm,” Padmé replied, being complimented by a nod by Anakin.

“You two are gonna break a lot of hearts in the garden party,” their younger sister joked.

“Very funny, Ash,” Luke said sarcastically.

“I’m serious!”, she exclaimed. “You two look great!”

“Not as good as mother and father,” Leia replied.

Indeed, Anakin and Padmé looked stunning, even with seemingly typical outfits for them. Anakin was wearing a black two-piece suit, purple necktie, white polo, dark grey pants, and a pair of black leather shoes. He was also sporting a black top hat over his brown hair as he held onto a walking stick that was purely for accessory. Padmé was wearing a red coatdress with a red fascinator. She was wearing black low heels and had an umbrella with her that she would occasionally use. The royal couple looked stunning as always.

“Your mother really only wears a lot of fascinators as it’s a requirement,” Anakin pointed out. “It’s a requirement for royal women to wear headwear to formal events.”

“In fairness, it does make me look better,” Padmé smirked in response. “I have a lot of them.”

“Leia, when you and Asher turn 18, you two are gonna have to wear headwear to formal events as well,” Anakin said. “Not right now, though.”

“Father, do you have to wear headwear?”, Luke asked.

Anakin shook his head, “Well, sometimes, but most of the time, it’s just encouraged. I do love a good top hat though. It helps with the looks.”

“I’m nervous. What if they don’t like me?”, Luke pouted unnoticeably.

“They will, Luke,” Asher replied. “They loved me in my first public appearance.”

“That’s because you were little more than a baby,” Luke pointed out.

“Still, they’ll love you two. Just don’t go around ruining their days, and you’ll do fine.”

“Tell you what, Luke, how about you stick with me?”, Padmé offered. “Leia, you can stick with your father.”


	13. Chapter 13

Anakin, Padmé, Luke, Leia, and Asher were on the hallway that would be leading to the staircase leading to the garden. It was painfully obvious that Luke and Leia were nervous, and it was also painfully obvious that reassuring them that they would do fine wouldn’t really help them, so Asher elected to ignore their obvious nervousness. Their parents, however, were the pictures of poise in the family, looking confident and graceful as ever as they walked up to the door separating the hallway and aforementioned staircase. Anakin looked at Luke and Leia before entering, “Are you two ready for your first appearance?”

Luke nodded rather shyly, “Yes, I’m ready.”

Leia nodded shortly after, “Me, too.”

“Asher, dear, are you ready?”, Padmé asked.

“Yes, mother,” she replied with a confident smile on her face.

The doors were opened for the royal family, and a few seconds later, the entire group of partygoers were looking at the royal family as they showered them with applause. Padmé waved with the perfect example of a royal wave, and Anakin tipped his top hat to go along with her. Asher waved whereas Luke and Leia simply smiled at let out a small nod as to not seem ignorant of everyone else at the party. Most of the people there were looking at Luke and Leia with smiles on their faces, some seeming like formal smiles whereas most seemed genuine.

There were men stationed at the bottom of the staircase, standing perfectly still as they were trained.

The royal family got down the staircase and began splitting up. Leia went with her father, Luke went with Padmé, and Asher ventured out on her own.

Padmé first walked up to a lady of possibly older age with Luke, and the woman smiled at Padmé and curtsied as she greeted, “Your Majesty.”

“Satine,” Padmé smiled. “How are you?”

“I’m doing quite fine, ma’am,” she replied.

Padmé gestured to Luke, “This is my son, Luke. He’s the one everyone’s been talking about in the news.”

“H-hi,” Luke greeted extremely nervously.

“Your Highness,” she greeted back much more confidently. “You know, it’s so good to finally see you. You’ve been all over the news, actually, you and your sister.”

“Hehe, thanks,” he rubbed the back of his neck, seeming even shier.

“He’s…a bit shy,” Padmé said.

“Oh, it’s alright,” Satine laughed it off. “It is his first appearance, correct?”

“Mhm,” Padmé nodded. “It is for both him and Leia.”

“I see.”

As Padmé and Luke left Satine, Luke apologized, “Sorry, mother.”

Padmé looked at him, “It’s alright, Luke. It’s just your first public appearance, so you’re not used to it. Soon, it’ll be much easier for you. It’ll get better overtime, Luke, don’t worry.”

Luke nodded, “Well, when’s the next time I have a public appearance.”

Padmé shrugged, “Well, there’s no plans as of right now, so we’ll see.”

“Okay, then,” Luke sighed. “When’s school again? I…forgot.”

“In…a month and a half,” his mother answered. “Why?”

“I don’t know. I just…miss someone, I guess.”

“Who is it?”, she asked. “Is it that Mara that you keep going on about again?”

Luke shook his head before eventually nodding, “Yeah, it’s her.”

She chuckled, “Don’t worry, you’ll be able to see her again soon.”

“I hope so,” he murmured.

____________________

“So, Leia, are you enjoying the party so far?”, Anakin asked his daughter. “It seems you are.”

Leia smiled up at him, “Yes, I am.”

Anakin chuckled, “Well, that’s good to know. You’ll be going to a lot more of these in the future. Well, not really the garden parties since they only really happen twice a year, but you will get a lot more public appearances. You know, the media wants to learn a lot more about you and your personality, so maybe at some point, you will be interviewed, but don’t worry, me and your mother will always tell you about it before it actually happens, and you can often decline if you don’t want it. Our media team, however, will want to interview you at some point.”

“An official media team?”, Leia raised an eyebrow.

“Yep, it’s called ‘The Coruscant Royal Channel’,” he nodded.

“What app?”

“Er, a lot.”

“Which ones?”

“YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and a bit more, I think,” he answered. “We’re everywhere, really.”

“You never told me if we were allowed to have personal social media accounts.”

Anakin’s eyes widened, “Oh, about that, it’s been allowed a few days ago, but you have to be very careful. Remember, the wrong post can ruin your reputation. Plus, there’s a lot of restrictions, but don’t worry, I think I can show it to you later, I’ll see. You’ll be able to get back online soon.”

She nodded, “Alright.”

“Neat.”

“When do I get to wear extravagant clothes like you and mother?”, she asked.

“When you’re older or when you’re queen,” he pointed out. “Four wardrobes is already a lot, and you won’t get more unless you become the queen.”

“Do I get that hat that mother’s wearing though?”

“The fascinator? You sure will. You’ll have a lot of them, actually.”

“I see,” she smiled lightly.

____________________

As the party went on, Padmé and Luke seemed to have talked to just about everyone there. They had their meal, but it was relatively short, not really taking a lot of time out of their time in the party. Padmé and Luke were walking around now after just finishing up a chat with a visiting noble, and that was until Luke noticed a very certain someone. Luke squinted before his eyes shot open and he hastily walked to the young woman, and Padmé didn’t really notice this until Luke was already there.

Luke tapped the woman’s shoulders, “Mara?”

“Hm?”, she then turned around, and she gaped at the sight. “Lu?”

He smiled and blushed lightly, “Hey.”

“W-what are you doing here?”, she asked.

“Uh, first public appearance? His Royal Highness The Prince Luke?”

She gaped even more before slowly nodding, “So, it is true, you were the long lost prince.”

“Yeah, and…I have a sister, too.”

Padmé caught up to Luke, and Luke acknowledged her with the rare smile of confidence, “Oh, mother, here is Mara.”

“So, this is the one you’ve been going on about,” she said.

Mara blushed before giving out a poor curtsy, “Your Majesty.”

“Oh, please, if Luke doesn’t mind being called by his first name, then I won’t mind either,” she smiled at the younger female.

“Mother, can me and Mara just have a bit of a…chat? I want to catch up with her,” Luke asked.

She nodded, “Sure, of course, just don’t do anything dumb.”

He chuckled, “I promise I won’t.”

The young prince turned to his girlfriend, “So, yeah, I’m a…prince.”

“I really can’t believe it,” she slowly shook her head. “I’ve been dating the prince all along. I’m not even sure I can keep dating you,” she sighed.

“Well, for starters,” Luke began to smile. “A fun fact is I’m actually going to National Coruscant High School for next year.”

“Really?”, she gaped.

“Really.”

She smiled, “Then, I guess it was a blessing that I couldn’t convince my parents.”

“It is,” he chuckled as he repeatedly nodded. “It really is.”

“Are you still wondering why I’m actually here?”, she asked.

“Yeah,” he nodded.

“My parents applied to be able to join this party, and we were accepted,” she answered. “Little did I know that my prince-for-a-boyfriend would be making his first public appearance.”

“Ah, I see,” he chuckled.

“Should we start talking about…us again?”, she raised an eyebrow. “I will be staying here for just about the rest of my life if my parents can get a house, which they likely will as they already have jobs.”

“Yeah, I think we could start talking about us again.”

“So, you definitely have some sort of restrictions to dating now for sure,” she said.

“Nothing much, actually. The only new rules are that the relationship has to be secret, and we would have to get permission from my father if we, one day, want to get married, just saying.”

“Alright, so we have to be very…subtle in school,” she said. “That’s gonna be tough.”

“Well, if you want to pull through with it, you’re gonna have to deal with it,” he pointed out.”

“Well,” she shrugged. “You do make a good point, and I do want this.”

“So, will we keep going? Will we do this again? I’d rather be with you than some seductive noble.”

She snorted, “I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”

“Me with a noble?”

“Mhm.”

“Okay, so like I asked earlier, will we keep going?”, he repeated.

She stopped for a while before nodding slowly, “Yes, I do want to try again, Lu. I do want to be with you, and I do want _us_ to happen.”

“You’re not the only one,” he smiled at her. “There’s definitely a very long way to go, but we can do this.”

“Together?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “We can do this together. All the way.”

____________________

“Are you sure about this, Your Highness?”, the captain asked.

“Quite sure,” Leia answered before turning around to face Luke. “What about you, Luke?”

“Sure, as well.”

The cell opened, and the prince and princess entered. Sheev was looking down to the ground as he waited for someone to speak up.

“Sheev Palpatine,” Luke mumbled. Sheev’s face burst upwards as he looked to see who the new voice was. “Do you know who we are?”

“So, you’re alive,” he ignored the question.

Leia nodded with a small smirk, “Indeed, we are.”

“I should’ve killed you when I had the chance,” he hissed rather quietly. “You bastards…”

Luke snorted, “Well, why didn’t you then?”

“I had…other plans for you two,” he answered rather unspecifically.

“Well, they sure didn’t work,” Leia pointed out. “All thanks to your beloved wife.”

He sighed, “Bastards…”

“You know, Sheev, I think you just killing would’ve definitely been a better idea,” Luke said. “Because here we are now, prince and princess, still very much alive.”

“Whatever,” he groaned. “What do you want, anyway?”

Leia shrugged, “Just to visit a _friend_ of ours.” She practically spat the word _friend_ out. “Isn’t that nice?”

He slowly nodded as he rolled his eyes, “I suppose it is.”

“Good,” Luke commented.

“You’re lucky they found you.”

Luke shook his head, “No, we’re lucky your wife isn’t nearly as bad as you, but yes, we’re also lucky that father and mother found us.”

“It seemed like luck was on our side, didn’t it, Lu?”, Leia pouted slightly.

“It did, sister dearest. It really did,” he answered.


	14. Epilogue

**_Prince Luke and Duchess Mara reveal the name of their son: Ben Anakin Skywalker_ **

_The newlywedded couple of Prince Luke and Duchess Mara have just revealed the name of their royal baby: Ben Anakin Skywalker, as confirmed by the family’s official and personal social media accounts. His second name, of course, being taken from His Majesty The King._

_“The Duke and Duchess of Mos Eisley have just revealed the name of their royal baby: Ben Anakin Skywalker, as of Monday, June 17, 2030, CRT 13:21.”_

  * _@palaceoftherealmsofficial_



_“Welcome to the world, Ben Anakin Skywalker!”_

  * _@thelukeskywalker_



_“Ben Anakin Skywalker, a lovely name for a lovely baby_ _♥_ _”_

  * _@theactualmara_



_The royal couple, His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen, have also expressed their thoughts on the baby and the name given recently in an interview with the official media team of Palace of the Realms._

_“What’s funny is Luke has never really told me anything about the second name, so to learn that he and Mara named him after me is actually quite the honor. To have a prince named after you is quite the honor, and that’s coming from a king! I’m really happy for the two of them, and I really hope for the best for them and their baby.”_

  * _His Majesty The King_



_“I’m very happy for the two of them, and of course, I’m also very happy that I finally have my first grandchild! I just know that the two of them will take to fatherhood and motherhood easily, and I wish the best for them.”_

  * _Her Majesty The Queen_



_We’re sure we all wish the best for the newest addition to the royal family!_

Luke closed the article and placed his phone on the nightstand with a small smile on his face as he quickly daydreamed of the future, and just as he stopped his daydreaming, Mara’s eyes fluttered open before she quickly greeted her husband, “Morning, Lu.”

Luke smiled down at her before kissing her forehead, “Morning, princess.”

“Wattimeizzit?”, she asked before groaning.

“It’s about, eh…7:45,” he answered.

“Okay,” she sighed before letting out a large groan as she stretched her arms and sat up. She then leaned on his shoulder with a small pout. “I wanna sleep.”

Her husband chuckled, “Well, why don’t you?”

“I don’t know. I’m too lazy,” she replied. Luke chuckled again before awkward silence ensued.

Not wanting to let the awkward silence keep going, Luke broke it, “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she replied.

“Also, I just read an article about Ben’s name, so the media is all over our baby now,” he pointed out.

“You know, I still can’t believe Leia beat you to being heir apparent by a minute,” Mara said with a grin.

“Well, it was a 50/50 chance for both of us to come out first, and Leia was the lucky one.”

“And, that’s why she gets to be called the Princess of Tatooine?”, she raised an eyebrow.

Luke nodded, “Mhm, that’s why, luck.”

She chuckled, “Well, it’s not like we’re bitter or anything.”

“Yeah, it’s not like that,” he laughed.

“Although I still wonder how Han would do as her consort.”

“I think he’d be…different. I’m still surprised father granted him permission to marry her.”

“Speaking of father, aren’t we gonna have breakfast with him and the others today as usual?”

“Oh, you’re right, we gotta get ready!”, he exclaimed.

____________________

“I wonder where are Luke and Mara,” Anakin mused before looking down at the extravagant dining table. “Padmé, have you seen them?”

She shrugged, “No, I think they’re still having that post-pregnancy bliss.”

“There’s no such thing as post-pregnancy bliss,” Anakin pointed out dryly. “Isn’t that right, Ash?”

Asher nodded, “Mhm.”

“Our children and in-laws are something else, Ani, you never know what they have in store.”

“Well,” he sighed as he conceded. “I suppose you’re right about that.”

As if on cue, Luke and Mara burst into the room in the most unprincely fashion not long after Anakin finished speaking.

Anakin laughed mockingly at the two as he acknowledged their presence, “Your mother here said you two were under _post-pregnancy bliss_ , so tell me, were you two under that?”

His son shook his head, “No, father, we were just under the bliss of sleep.”

Padmé chuckled, “Well, how about you two take a seat? We’re just about to get started.”

Luke looked at the man next to Leia and waved rather awkwardly as he greeted, “Hey, Han.”

“Er, hey,” the Duke of Corellia waved back just as awkwardly.

“So, Luke, Mara, how’s Ben doing?”, Padmé asked.

“Well, he’s…asleep,” Mara shrugged. “He’s a deep sleeper, I can promise you that. I remember Luke over here tripped yesterday, and Ben didn’t say a thing about it.”

“Wait, was that where that thud came from? I think I remember barely hearing one yesterday,” Anakin asked.

Luke laughed sheepishly as he nodded, “Yeah, I think so.”

“Well, being a deep sleeper is definitely something he takes from your mother over here, Luke, and you just so happen to be a deep sleeper yourself,” Anakin grinned at Padmé and Luke.

“I take that as a compliment,” his wife replied primly.

“Oh, dear, I don’t think you should. We ended up late because of it once,” Anakin pointed out.

“That was your fault, Ani,” she pointed out. “You didn’t change quick enough.”

He snorted, “Really? The only reason why I didn’t change so quickly was because I spent a lot of the time trying to wake you up.”

“I could change much quicker than you.”

“I think I could change much quicker than both of you, mother, father,” Leia said challengingly with a smirk. “In fact, I could change even with the added delay of trying to wake up Han over here.”

“Hey, I heard that,” Han replied, leaving Leia with a giggle.

Her father raised an eyebrow, “That’s just because you wear simpler clothes compared to ours.”

“I think we can all agree Ben wears the simplest clothes,” Mara said.

“I second that,” Luke agreed. “I very much second that.”

“I don’t,” Han raised a hand. “I wear the simplest clothes.”

“That’s just because you’re not a prince, _noble_ ,” Luke stood up in challenge.

“Luke!”, Anakin scolded.

Luke groaned as he looked at his father, “It’s just a joke.”

“Mhm,” Anakin rolled his eyes. “Yeah, alright.”

“Your father does not have a good sense of humor,” Padmé pointed out. “Just saying.”

“I do!”, Anakin protested. “I make the best jokes.”

“The only reason your jokes are funny is because they’re so bad.”

There was a bit of an awkward silence as they ate until Padmé asked Leia, “Leia, have you been catching up with…Evaan and the others?”

She nodded, “Yes, actually. In fact, I actually just talked with Evaan yesterday. So far, she’s been doing quite well in her new job.”

“What was it again?”

“Office.”

“Ah, alright.”

Leia smirked and nodded as well as she murmured, “Mhm.”

Luke raised an eyebrow, “Leia, I know that smirk of yours. You’re hiding something from us, aren’t you?”

“No, I am not,” she then shook her head before eventually nodding. “Well, actually, I am.”

Luke looked at Han to see that he was smirking as well, “Seems like Han has that look as well. This seems like a couple secret if you ask me. If you don’t mind me asking, what are you two hiding?”

Leia looked at Han, and he gave her a nod, so Leia looked back at the rest of the family with a smile that she could not hide before eventually speaking, “Well, in a few months’ time, I think we should all be expecting a new member of the family to arrive.” Leia complimented her statement with her hands placed on her stomach, a gesture that really only Han actually noticed. Luckily, everyone in the room understood what she was referring to.

Padmé gaped, but she was clearly on the verge of smiling, “Leia, dear, you’re…pregnant?”

Leia nodded with a smile, one that Padmé copied shortly after her reply, “Yes, mother, and I’m just about to pass the first trimester.”

Anakin grinned before looking down and shaking his head, “We’re really getting spoiled with grandchildren.”

Mara looked at Anakin with a small chuckle, “Don’t worry, you get to spoil them when they’re old enough.”

“Isn’t being a royal already enough spoiling?”, Anakin raised an eyebrow.

She shrugged, “Mm, I guess so.”

Padmé placed a hand on Anakin’s shoulder, “No, it’s not, Ani. We can spoil them much, much more than just by having them be royals.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” he chuckled before raising his glass of water. “I know this isn’t really a toast and it probably sounds ridiculous, but here’s to a big, happy family, and to much more!”

Everyone repeated the act, “Here’s to a big, happy family, and to much more!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, that's all she wrote for this fanfic! Right now, I'm contemplating on what to do next, so stay tuned for something new!


End file.
